Re: sts- [was: RE: [lojban] Brochure updates

["Brion L. VIBBER" <brion@pobox.com>]

Craig wrote:
> >Surely also the plural of any word ending in "st"?
> >Beasts, feasts, fests, breasts, guests, bequests, quests, forests...
>
> But English and lojban do not expect STSTS, and can be typed on a normal 
> roman-alphabet keyboard.

(Oh, this doesn't sound like an auspicious beginning... Those who are 
uninterested in nonsensical language flamewars may as well ignore the rest of 
this thread. Sigh.)

Chu? Cxu? Digraphs are *always* an acceptable alternative for those without 
the time to use a character map or adjust their OS's keyboard layout.

I'd also point out that English *does* use diacritics and punctuation not 
available on a standard keyboard. What standard US keyboard lets me type 
"fiancée" with the acute accent as it appears in a dictionary, quotes with 
the proper directions, or a long dash? I need to configure a special 
"international" keyboard, use a character map, or have software which 
corrects it for me. "ASCII is enough for English" is a myth.

> Lojban has harder consonant clusters than Esperanto,
> but one of the things that sold me on lojban is that if you
> can't say them, we have buffer vowels. They don't.

postscio == postascio == posta scio ("after[wards] knowledge")

> And the weird letters
> and absurdities were both major turn-offs about esperanto.

Oh dear. Have you visited a psychiatrist about your xenophobia?

> I wasn't actually looking to learn an artificial language, but lojban
> seemed to offer more than even any natural languages - and esperanto seemed
> like another natural language that happened not to be natural.

Er, then why should you care about Esperanto enough to complain about it? 

Shall we compare apples and oranges next? Oranges tend to be more spherical, 
with an orange color and dimpled skin. Apples vary in color from red to 
yellow to green, or mottled, and their shape is somewhat asymmetrical, with a 
larger top than bottom... And that's just the surface!

Below, the pulpy mass of the orange is bizarrely different from the meaty 
goodness of the apple... which will win the hearts and minds of the nation's 
fruit-eating community??

> Question for Esperantists: Is a female eunuch a neutrino?

It makes an excellent pun, but a more correct and less ambiguous word would 
be eunukino.

-- brion vibber (brion@pobox.com / vibber@usc.edu)