Re: [lojban] mei

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

On Tuesday 12 October 2010 16:47:19 Luke Bergen wrote:
> Looking at http://vlasisku.lojban.org/mei I would guess that the x1 of
> {Xmei} would be a mass formed from a set (x2) whose X members are (x3).
>
> But then I look at
> http://vlasisku.lojban.org/cimei<http://vlasisku.lojban.org/mei> and
> it says that x1 is a set.  So if I talk about {lo cimei gerku cu batci lo
> mripre} am I saying that as a mass, the three dogs bit the mailman or am I
> saying that the set of three dogs bites the mailman?
>
> I forget some of the differences between sets and masses.  I think if a set
> of 3 things does a thing then all 3 must have done it individually where as
> long as 1 of a mass of 3 does a thing then the entire mass has done it.  So
> there is certainly a difference in meaning.
>
> So which is it?

Both "cimei" and "mei" were entered by officialdata, so it's a conflict 
between the gimste and the ma'oste or within the ma'oste. (I'm leaving in a 
few minutes for a meeting, so I can't look it up now.)

A set of dogs can't bite. It can only have members and do some things like 
simxu. A mass of dogs can bite, as can a dog. Taking bacteria instead of 
dogs, loi jurme bene'i mi cu mleca loi mivysle be mi .iku'i lo'i jurme bene'i 
mi cu zmadu lo'i mivysle be mi .iki'ubo lo jurme cu mutce mleca lo remna 
mivysle (the mass of bacteria in me is smaller than the mass of my cells, but 
the set of bacteria in me is larger than the set of my cells, because a 
bacterium is much smaller than a human cell).

Pierre

-- 
La sal en el mar es más que en la sangre.
Le sel dans la mer est plus que dans le sang.

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