A discussion was started on the beginners list that seemed to fit better here. The question is whether something can be a Lojbanic way of talking about something if it uses non-Lojban letters. For example, saying {wybu} to talk about 'w'. It has been brought up that when talking to beginners, discussions of letters are usually done in English. But it would seem to me that if we're not worrying about Lojban names for things or Lojban ways to name them that it is pointless to use {bu} at all in these beginners' discussions. Things like {wybu} or its analogs {qybu} or {hybu} seem like inconsistent hybrids. But then, I've only been learning for a few months, and it is possible that there are years of precedents for this kind of thing that I missed.
.i ebu cusku lu .i sepli mi'o le panoxa cibjmagutci fa la ke'avro .ije ma'a ponse lo culno me la betsis. me'u .e lo xadba culno tanxe be lo zgikrkazu'u .ije manku .ije mi'o dasni lo solri le'otci li'u .i jy. cusku lu ko .e mi klama li'u