From jjllambias@hotmail.com Thu Nov 21 07:39:35 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: jjllambias@hotmail.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_3_0); 21 Nov 2002 15:39:35 -0000 Received: (qmail 76277 invoked from network); 21 Nov 2002 15:39:35 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.218) by m5.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 21 Nov 2002 15:39:35 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO hotmail.com) (216.33.241.223) by mta3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 21 Nov 2002 15:39:35 -0000 Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 07:39:35 -0800 Received: from 200.49.74.2 by lw8fd.law8.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 15:39:34 GMT To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Bcc: Subject: Re: [lojban] mi nanca li (was: Re: Newbie says hi Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 15:39:34 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 21 Nov 2002 15:39:35.0331 (UTC) FILETIME=[318C5730:01C29174] From: "Jorge Llambias" X-Originating-IP: [200.49.74.2] X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=6071566 X-Yahoo-Profile: jjllambias2000 la and cusku di'e >Idioms are very mabla toljbo, and hence {mi nanca li 18} is too. We need >a better way to say it, which generalizes to all measurements of duration: > >"The (linear) time from inception of x1 to (punctual) time x3 is x2 units >in duration." I don't agree that {mi nanca li cixa} is an idiom. I think {nanca} already means what you want, except that time x3 is the time of the event. Otherwise you have to take {nanca} as an atemporal predicate, but normal predicates in Lojban are not forcedly atemporal, so why force {nanca} to be one? We can say: {ca li pasobici mi nanca li paze}, "In 1983 I was 17", or {ca li renoreno mi nanca li muvo romu'ei le du'u mi za'o jmive}, "In 2020 I will be 54 if I'm still alive". There is nothing strange about {mi} nanca-ing different numbers at different times. The other perspective, considering that {mi} labels some timeless object with a duration that goes from birth to death, does not seem to be all that useful. >This would generalize to, say, "At that time, I had been living in London >for 8 months", as well as to "I am 18 years old". I would say: {ca le co'e le nu mi xabju la londn cu masti li bi}. mu'o mi'e xorxes _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail