[lojban-beginners] Re: logic in english sayings

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 10/20/05, Jessica <j.shewellbrockway@virgin.net> wrote:
> {le flecu be temci}?

({be lo temci}. {be} attaches a sumti to a brivla.)

>Given that what we are actually referring to is not
> an particular interval or duration of time, but rather the flow of time
> itself. lojban forces you to think clearly about what you are actually
> trying to say.

Whether we say that a duration of time waits or a flow of durations
of time waits, in either case we are being metaphorical. "Flow of time"
is itself a metaphor, because time is not some material that can
literally flow. Flowing requires changing of position in space with
time, and time is not something that moves in space. What would it
mean for time to "wait"? That everything stands still... as time passes?
That tides don't wait for anyone can be said more literally, because it
is at least imaginable that a tide could wait. But of course Lojban,
like all languages, allows for metaphors too.

mu'o mi'e xorxes