Subject: Re: [lojban] (from lojban-beginners) pi'e

From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 20:59:17 -0400

At 04:15 PM 9/14/01 -0700, Nick NICHOLAS wrote:
> >BTW. No one has mentioned one bit of the nitty gritty of this particular
> >world standard, but don't most standards insist on 24 hour clock time? Do
> >the world standard organizations believe that they will get the world to
> >use a 24 hour clock in everyday life?
>
>Lojbab, have you ever been to Europe and read the TV listings? Good Lord.

No.

>People don't use 24 hours in speech in Europe, but noone uses anything but
>in writing.

A linguist who believes that the written language should be pre-eminent in 
discussing its design and nature?

Actually it sounds like the printed media has kowtowed to the standards and 
real people using real language are heeding the standards as much as the 
French who use "le weekend".

>I find this contempt of Standards Bodies utterly incredible. And I still
>think it's a libertarian thing.

Calling me a libertarian is hilarious, I'm as much a standards nut as 
anyone. But I lost this one, and my obligation as leader is to stand up 
for those who won the argument. Linguistically, I'm a pragmatist. Lojban 
is not by prescription going to change the way people think (you are the 
anti-Whorfist, though, so you should be making this argument). At best it 
can make it possible for people to change the way they think. Right now 
they seem to think in 12 hour clocks (and the fact that 12 hour clocks have 
persisted since the Babylonians were the last to use a duodecimal multiple 
as a base makes it hard to imagine that this will change quickly).

>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lojban/message/8432

>There's been a revote.
>
>And it's affected the Lessons.

You have complete editorial freedom, (he smiles). It isn't in any baseline 
document. But don't go telling me I don't have to read all the traffic on 
the list carefully if you are going to argue fait accompli on the basis of 
changes made when I wasn't doing so (which was the case before LogFest).

lojbab
--
lojbab [email-masked]
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org