[lojban] Re: railgun

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

--- Robin Lee Powell
<rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 07:11:40PM -0500, Chris
> Capel wrote:
> > 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. 

Staple guns are an odd case in English: they are
not generally tubular and the most often use
spoing rather than pop (nail guns are also not
tubular, but they do use pop). All of these
derivative notions of course deserve longer
expressions -- as they have in English as well.

> If I want English, I know where to find it.
> 
> > So celxa'i isn't really all that much
> broader.
> 
> celxa'i is a great word for "projectile weapon"
> (which, I would like
> to point out, is exactly the same number of
> syllables as
> xumjimcelxa'i).

Which, given its role in English -- as a
specialized term of art, not one in common usage
-- is about right for "projectile weapon."  Even
though Lojban words tend to be slightly longer
than English, {xumjimcelxa'i} is too long for a
word as common as "gun"  -- even if you want to
restrict it to metal bullet firing, chemical
propellant using guns.

>  It is *not* the right word for
> gun, though, because
> if it's defined as gun that means I can't use
> it in a context where
> it is clear that crossbows are what is being
> used.
> 
Very true; you need at least to say it is a pop
projector, not a spoing or a swish or a bounce.
Alas, we don't have gismu for any of these
notions  : Lojban's "explode" blows things up but
not out  and the rest don't turn up in any
immediately apparent places.  There is another
question, whether you need the "weapon" part: the
two places it gives, shooter and shootee, don't
seem essential to the idea of a gun -- even in
the restricted sense -- and are readily supplied
when needed from the outside.  Unless it was
important for you to distinguish say police
specials (specified users) and deer rifles
(specified targets), but again, we don't know
about that.