Re: [lojban] Beyond Whorf: "things," "qualities," and the origin of nouns and adjectives

["James F. Carter" <jimc@MATH.UCLA.EDU>]

On Wed, 2 Aug 2000, Jorge Llambias wrote:
> You wouldn't say in English that the bottle contents are
> still bottle contents when outside of the bottle, at least
> not for long. Would you say that {se botpi} are still {se botpi},
> perhaps being the contents of the empty set?

"Add a can of (our product) to your car's gasoline and /it/ will do wonders
for your engine."  "It" was formerly in the can, but while it's doing
wonders for your engine, which takes several days, it's outside.  In
English we play fast and loose with tenses.  A pedant would say: "...and
the former can contents will do wonders..."  But I'm willing, at least in
this context, to leave off "former" and accept the substance as being a
"canful" or "contents of a vessel" even though it's long gone from its
container.

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