Re: [lojban] Baby words: "be careful of X"

[Jonathan Jones <eyeonus@gmail.com>]

*glass

On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:20 AM, Jonathan Jones <eyeonus@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 3:17 AM, Arnt Richard Johansen <arj@nvg.org> wrote:

On Wed, May 02, 2012 at 03:03:52AM -0600, Jonathan Jones wrote:
> On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 2:03 AM, Arnt Richard Johansen <arj@nvg.org> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, May 01, 2012 at 10:09:27PM -0700, Robin Lee Powell wrote:
> > >

> > > The specific example was "Be carefull pulling on that toy; it's
> > > going to spring back and hit you and that will hurt".
> >
> > A reasonably precise rendition might be ralci+tarti or ralci+pilno.
>
> Those both seem to be the wrong sense of "careful" to me.
> That is, they mean careful as in "handle with care", not "watch out".

As a non-native speaker, I might have been unaware of the subtle shades of meaning of the word “careful” (although even after consulting two dictionaries, I'm not convinced there is a clear distinction between the two).

Well, to elaborate, "Be careful transporting that, it's made of class" means to be careful not to break it- the danger is to the the object. Whereas "Be careful, the stove is hot" means to be careful interacting with it- the danger is to you.

So, basically the difference is whether the person you're talking to is the lo ckape or the lo se ckape, approximately.
 

In any case, taken in context, Robin's example seems more like an exhortation to handle the toy with care, since watching out isn't likely to help – if it does spring back, there won't be enough time to react.

--
Arnt Richard Johansen                                http://arj.nvg.org/

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mu'o mi'e .aionys.

.i.e'ucai ko cmima lo pilno be denpa bu .i doi.luk. mi patfu do zo'o
(Come to the Dot Side! Luke, I am your father. :D )

-- 
mu'o mi'e .aionys.

.i.e'ucai ko cmima lo pilno be denpa bu .i doi.luk. mi patfu do zo'o
(Come to the Dot Side! Luke, I am your father. :D )

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