On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:09 AM, Timo Paulssen
<timonator@perpetuum-immobile.de> wrote:
Pierre Abbat wrote:
> "hello, my name is rolf" is "coi mi'e rolf". I don't know how to say "how do
> you do?"; the literal translation is "do gasnu ta'i ma?", but that would
> elicit the reply "How do I do *what*?" "How are you" could be "do mo", but
> that could also mean "What are you?" or "What do you do?"
>
> mu'o mi'e pier.
Heya,
I think you missed the point a bit. He was clearly and most probably also
consciously asking not for a literal translation, but "how to do basic
greetings", which of course is a question about the customs of the lojbanic
community.
The first example you gave, {coi mi'e rolf} is still correct and {do mo} is, in
fact, what we say in place of "how do you do?" (even though "how do you do?" is
not a question as far as I know) and it's not a bad thing that it can also mean
"what do you do?" or "what are you?", because the common lojbanists cares that
much more about their peers ;)
mu'o mi'e timos