[lojban-beginners] Re: using ko with xamgu

[Arran <arran4@arran4.homeip.net>]

Just to prove you wrong, and that "YOU! ENJOY YOUR COFFEE!" is something that 
can occur outside of prison, I am going to say it the moment I leave my room 
to my family who are eating breakfast. :)

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 06:05 am, Sunnan wrote:
> 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?

-- 
-4

How many Lojbanists does it take to change a broken lightbulb?
 Two: one to decide what to change it into, and another to figure out what 
kind of bulb would emit broken light.