[lojban] Re: railgun

[Chris Capel <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On 5/24/05, Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 06:26:26PM -0500, Chris Capel wrote:
> > Even if you needed to refer to this particular type of gun two or
> > three dozen times in a story, couldn't you just begin with
> > {celxa'i poi cecla lo jimne lo xukmi}
> 
> My problem with celxa'i, which I did consider, is that it includes
> rocket launchers, bows & arrows, slings, and on and on and on.

But if you think about it, English "gun" includes things like electron
guns and staple guns. So celxa'i isn't really all that much broader.
But context narrows it down quite a bit. The context is that those
other types of guns are thousands of times less common than handguns
and rifles automatics and such, so they get a preportionate tiny share
in the contextual meaning of "gun". I think the same could apply to
something simple like {celxa'i}.

Chris Capel
-- 
"What is it like to be a bat? What is it like to bat a bee? What is it
like to be a bee being batted? What is it like to be a batted bee?"
-- The Mind's I (Hofstadter, Dennet)