On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 5:40 PM, Lindar Greenwood
<
lindarthebard@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Couldn't this word be freed up to be used for another word?
Yes. The whole language could be freed up, and you could replace it
with one that makes sense. Good luck. ;)
> I mean, if we're making specialised words for things, why don't we
> have a word specifically for "switch" {vrabatke/vraga batke} or "door"
> {vrogai} instead of calling them lever-buttons and passageway-covers?
We do have specialized words for switch and door, they're just not
gismu. There's no shame in being a lujvo. They're just words-- it
takes practice remember to even be able to tell that "vrogai" is in a
different category because of the diphthong at the end. One could
just as easily imagine a Lojban where things were reversed, and we had
a word for "switch" which was made into "button" by saying
"flat+switch" and a word for "door" that was made into "doorway" by
saying "door+hole". I don't see any particular reason to prefer that
Lojban over ours.
> Even then, I've had a large argument over my preference for the word
> {vrabatke} because most feel that {batke} covers all manner of actuators,
> switches, buttons, dials, etc. and there's no need to differentiate between
> them.
I think that "vrabatke" is a beautiful word, and I intend to use it
myself. It's true though that "batke" does include switches and so
forth-- the general rule with gismu is that their meanings are very
broad. So in my opinion a switch can be called a "batke", or it can
be called a "vrabatke" if you want to be more specific.
mu'o mi'e la selckiku
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