Re: [lojban] Why is there no noodle gismu?

["Bob LeChevalier, President and Founder - LLG" <lojbab@lojban.org>]

selpa'i wrote:
> The title basically says it all. I would like to have a gismu for
> "noodle", as noodles are everywhere! Please don't suggest {grusko};
> noodles come in all shapes and needn't be made from {gurni}.
>
> What do you call a fake noodle?

I've stayed out of this thread hoping that the obvious question would be 
raised:

Can you or someone give a definition of a "noodle", making it clear what 
is and is not to be considered?

Here is what mw.com has
> Definition of NOODLE
> : a food paste made usually with egg and shaped typically in ribbon form

which definition so obviously reflects a Lojban tanru, that it is 
impossible to see it as a language "primitive" (the word JCB used for 
"gismu", which I abandoned because of its polysemy). 13 words with 4 
gismu among them.

djapexsri, though probably pexsri would be sufficient, and potentially 
broadly productive even outside of the food realm; Lojban words do not 
need to be 100% synonymous with English ones, and the few examples I can 
imagine for a non-food being described as pexsri would probably be just 
as clear as a tanru based on "noodle", and there likewise should be 
little confusion with paste-like ribbons that are not "pasta" in English 
(cake decorations, maybe?).  One could mention the egg as well, but it 
seems even less necessary.

I note in passing that ALL of the variant meanings for "noodle" that are 
listed in mw.com have NOTHING to do with this base meaning, or even any 
of those 4 gismu.  In English, "noodle" is not a productive root.

And for those who bother to look up the word "pasta", you will find that 
it means precisely "pesxu", though "djapesxu" would more probably 
reflect its normal usage, as described in the encyclopediac definition.

(I'll note in passing that we actually did consider the question of 
"pasta" when creating the gismu list, with pesxu being determined as the 
solution.  Indeed, pasta should probably have been added to the set of 
synonyms in the definition.)

lojbab
--
Bob LeChevalier    lojbab@lojban.org    www.lojban.org
President and Founder, The Logical Language Group, Inc.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lojban" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to lojban+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to lojban@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.