Re: [lojban-beginners] Re: Jargon and Abbreviations

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Saturday 13 November 2010 12:43:55 Lindar wrote:
> > As for abbreviations, I meant things like Americans shortening
> > "television" to "TV" or Francophones shortening "sympatique" to "sympa",
> > and I was also thinking about acronyms a bit, e.g. MADD (mothers against
> > drunk driving).
> >
> > I'd assume that lojban would forbid both types.
>
> Quite the contrary. For example, we refer to the baupla fuzykamni as
> byfy. Also, fu'ivla don't necessarily have to be borrowed from a
> language. zi'evla are fu'ivla from our own language (lojban), or
> completely new words as the case may be. They aren't used a lot, but
> there exist fu'ivla/zi'evla of longer lujvo. For example, one might
> shorten {sorprekarce} (bus) to {sorpece} or some such thing.

I was thinking {sorpeka}, but same principle. {vonpaso}, which I mentioned 
earlier, is another: it's from {vo pa so}, referring to Nigerian law 419, and 
means the people who send mails that someone has died and has no heirs and 
the bank wants to transfer some huge some of money abroad.

Note that acronyms like {byfy} function like pronouns, not like whatever 
phrase they are abbreviations of. So I would say {mi cmima le baupla 
fuzykamni}, but {mi cmima byfy}, not {mi cmima le byfy}. If you want to make 
an acronym function like a proper noun, you precede it with {la me}, as in 
{la me cy.ibumymy.ybuty}. But that one I'd more likely say as {la simit}. 
(It's a Spanish acronym for Centro Internacional para el Mejoramiento de Maíz 
y Trigo = xagmaugau be lo zumri .e lo maxri be'o zukstu.}

Pierre
-- 
When a barnacle settles down, its brain disintegrates.
Já não percebe nada, já não percebe nada.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Lojban Beginners" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban-beginners@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban-beginners+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban-beginners?hl=en.