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[lojban-beginners] Re: using ko with xamgu

Robin Lee Powell wrote:


On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 09:25:42PM +0200, Sunnan wrote:
Is using ko with xamgu controversial? 

I don't think it's come up.
I'm thinking that ko can in many cases create sentences that seems very rude in a rough english translation. 
Like {ko selxau lo ckafi}
YOU! ENJOY YOUR COFFEE! Seems like something a prison guard would say, at first glance. 
But I've been thinking about this issue for some time.
Similarly to how "Enjoy your coffee" always has sounded so rude to my (non-native English) ears, since I hear it as imperative, I figure that ko selxau lo ckafi would sound crazily rude to non-jbojbe ears. 


For example, is {ko selxau lo ckafi} an acceptable way to say
"Enjoy your coffee"?


No; that means "Make it so that you enjoy your coffee", whereas the
English means "I hope you enjoy your coffee", which is something
like ".a'o do nelci tu'a le ckafi".

Thanks. That brings up a separate question:
Is it okay to use a'o in front of sentences that aren't currently true, or do I need to qualify them somehow? Can I write {a'o do prami mi} to my dear friends or would that be presumptuous?