Re: [lojban] Re: cusku - say or express?

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Robin Lee Powell
<rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 10:10:37AM -0300, Jorge Llambías wrote:
>> The difference between saying and talking is that you say words
>> and you talk about things. So all three, say, talk and express,
>> are different. All three can be done with sign language or in
>> writing, as far as I understand.
>
> That's not how I use the words.
>
> "say" and "talk" are pure synonyms, and mean spoken expression,

I don't believe you. I'm sure you don't say:

   I talked "hello" to him, and I said to him about a few things.

> "express" is medium-agnostic.

So it is, but I'm sure you don't say:

   I expressed "how are you?"

> Hence, since "cusku" has a "medium" place, it is "express" to me.

That doesn't follow.

> If cusku is "say" and tavla is "talk", for flashcard memorization
> purposes, I'm going to confuse them a lot.  I expect, but do not
> know, that other native speakers would have the same problem.
>
> For purposes other than flashcard memorization, it doesn't matter:
> the place structure speaks (hah!) for itself.

I agree with the last part. For anyone who pays attention to the place
structure, the keyword is fairly irrelevant. For those who just like
to memorize keywords, "express" is a bad keyword for "cusku", because
you don't use "cusku" in the contexts where you would use "express" in
English, you use it in the contexts where you would use "say" in
English.

mu'o mi'e xorxes