Re: [lojban] mabla

["Matt Arnold" <matt.mattarn@gmail.com>]

On 8/20/06, Yanis Batura <ybatura@mail.ru> wrote:
> Why are there so many anatomical references for the gismu {mabla}? All those
> body parts may be/seem obscene or derogatory in Western/European culture,
> but not in every culture in the world.
>
> zo vlagi cu srana lo se smuni be zo mabla mu'i ma .i mi na tugni
>
> I think that is not culturally neutral!
>
> mi'e .ianis.

Every person has their own culture. Lojban is a culturally neutral
*language*, but that does not mean a Lojban-speaker is a culturally
neutral *person*. There is nothing in Lojban that makes {vlagi}
automatically {mabla}. If someone says {mabla vlagi}, Lojban cannot
prohibit them from having that opinion or that culture. They are
speaking for their own opinions.

In fact, the great thing about Lojban is that if you speak to a person
from a culture that does not think {vlagi} is {mabla}, you are much
more clear by making it specific with {mabla}. You are then
communicating about yourself and your own culture so they can
understand where you're coming from. In a natural language you would
only use the word for {vlagi}. You would need them to already know
that it is obscene or derogatory for you, and they wouldn't
understand.

-epkat