[lojban] Re: railgun

[John E Clifford <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

--- Robin Lee Powell
<rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 01:29:52PM -0700, John
> E Clifford wrote:
> > --- Robin Lee Powell
> > <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> > > However, what you just said does *not*
> distinguish "guns that
> > > fire metal bullets" from BB guns or air
> guns or paint guns, and
> > > hence is utterly useless for my needs.
> > 
> > But these are all guns.  If you were aiming
> at something else, say
> > so (NOT after the fact).
> >  
> > > Lojban allows having more than one word
> depending on one's
> > > needs, you know.
> > 
> > Yes, but your needs did not enter into the
> discussion.  Your word
> > is still not too great for your needs. 
> 
> I said at the very beginning of this thread
> that this word was
> invented for my LNC story.  Hence, fitting my
> needs.
> 
But how are we to know what the needs of the
story are -- short of reading it, that is (and it
purports to be the longest thing in Lojban).  We
were told you needed a word for "gun" and came up
with the mammoth.  If we knew that it was
relevant to the story that the bullets shot were
metal or that the propellant was some standard
chemical one, then perhaps we could see the point
of putting all that stuff in.  This was not
mentioned, I assume because it was presupposed. 
In which case, of course, it could be presupposed
in the word too -- ceramic bullets and fluid
(liquid or gas) propellants get mentioned, metal
and gunpowder (etc.) don't need to be.