[lojban] Re: "point"?

[Jorge Llambías <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On 12/13/05, Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> > You exaggerate, how many terms have we really disagreed on?
>
> Dozens.  Basically every computer-related term you've done on the
> Tiki I hate.

You exaggerate again, I doubt you can list even one dozen you
truly hate. And I remember you favourably mentioning {prekarni}
for "blog", so you liked at least one of them. :)

>  I just haven't been pestering you about it because I
> haven't had time to come up with better ones, and I feel that people
> who can't help should mostly not whine.

It would still be helpful to list the ones you don't like if you have
the time some time, maybe with some comment on what is
bad about them, so maybe I or someone else can think of other
options.

> > I can only think of {papri} for webpage. I don't really have a
> > strong position on this. I don't especially like {papri} or
> > {vorme}, but they are better than nothing.
>
> I disagree; I think they are much, much worse than nothing.  I think
> they encourage utterly confused thought and inaccurate
> understandings of the underlying concepts.

I won't claim full understanding of underlying concepts, but use of
metaphor does not necessarily always reflect lack of understanding.
Sometimes a precise description of the underlying concept is not
possible, it would be too long or for some other reason would not
necessarily be the best option. Then you can either turn to fu'ivla
or metaphoric extension of some other concept. Each has its place
in any lannguage.

> I'd rather throw my hands up in the air and say "We can't use Lojban
> to talk about computers ever, sorry." than use "vorme" for "web
> link".
>
> That *may* be a slight exagerration, but it doesn't feel so right
> now.

That's always an option for an individual, but you can hardly make
that decison for the whole community. And given the composition
of the lojban community, making computer talk taboo would not
seem to have many chances of success. :)

mu'o mi'e xorxes


To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to lojban-list-request@lojban.org
with the subject unsubscribe, or go to http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/, or if
you're really stuck, send mail to secretary@lojban.org for help.