Subject: Re: [lojban] Broken Phone, round 2

From: Rob Speer <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 13:21:54 -0400

On Sun, Oct 21, 2001 at 04:38:06PM +0100, And Rosta wrote:
> > ganai do djica gi ko mrilu fi le mi'a tavla
> 
> "Either don't desire something or send mail to our talkers"

Considering you're translating the idiom "if you desire...", why not
just use {e'u} or {e'a}?

When we say "if you desire" or "if you wish" in English, we really mean
something more, since even without explicit instructions to do so,
people tend to do what they wish. It's really a mild suggestion. Or,
possibly, the listener would otherwise assume that you do not want them
to do that, in which case the "if you wish" statement grants permission.

We don't need to take the baggage of English with us - since we can
translate "Could you possibly" as {ko}, we can certainly translate "If
you desire" as {e'a}.

-- 
la rab.spir
noi sarji zo gumri