[lojban] Re: [OT] God Syndrome (OR: The why of 'why')

[Jon MacLeod <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

"Why does Mark feel the urge to punch a locker door when he's angry?"

 Is that recursive 'z' thing. Closer to the 'why does x do y for reason z' is
"What causes Mark to feel an urge to punch a locker door because he's angry?"
although that's not exactly what I mean and can be interpreted rather too
easily as an iteration of z.

 This, however is exactly the reason that the concept is so hard to explain:
the 'why' is too easily confused with the 'z' part of the sentence, in any
explanation I try to give. The problem is is that the 'why' portion can never
be a 'z': i.e. a reason for the act.

-Jon

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"I have a brain, I've just lost my mind." -Ian McLeod

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