Re: [lojban] non-metric unit place exception

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Friday 05 March 2010 11:17:14 Jonathan Jones wrote:
> From going through the gismu, I've come across something of interest
> regarding the non-metric gismu, that being, all of them have the same basic
> place structure save one:
>
> bunda x1 is x2 non-metric weight units in standard x3 with subunits x4
> dekpu x1 is x2 non-metric volume units in standard x3 with subunits x4
> gutci x1 is x2 non-metric short distance units in standard x3 with subunits
> x4
> kramu x1 is x2 non-metric area units in standard x3 with subunits x4
> minli x1 is x2 non-metric long distance units with subunits x3 in standard
> x4
>
> {minli} is {ve te ve} to the other four.
>
> I'm not sure if this has been noticed before or not, but I think it would a
> good idea to put it to the BPFK to officially switch the x3 and x4 of
> {minli} to match with the other non-metric measurement gismu.

Sounds good to me. Another irregularity in the measurement words is that 
{mitre} has a place for the direction, which neither {minli} nor {gutci} nor 
any of the other gismu has. I think it should be dropped in favor of either a 
prepositional place or a seltau. Whether a physical quantity has a direction 
is not easy to predict from its dimensions; e.g. torque has direction, but 
energy does not, though they are both measured in newton-meters (called 
joules for energy).

How are the subunits places supposed to be used?

Pierre
-- 
li ze te'a ci vu'u ci bi'e te'a mu du
li ci su'i ze te'a mu bi'e vu'u ci