From jcowan@reutershealth.com Wed Mar 05 15:05:50 2003 Return-Path: X-Sender: jcowan@reutershealth.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_6_1); 5 Mar 2003 23:05:50 -0000 Received: (qmail 80812 invoked from network); 5 Mar 2003 23:05:49 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.217) by m10.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 5 Mar 2003 23:05:49 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mail.reutershealth.com) (65.246.141.36) by mta2.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 5 Mar 2003 23:05:49 -0000 Received: from skunk.reutershealth.com (mail [65.246.141.36]) by mail.reutershealth.com (Pro-8.9.3/Pro-8.9.3) with SMTP id SAA01627 for ; Wed, 5 Mar 2003 18:02:53 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200303052302.SAA01627@mail.reutershealth.com> Received: by skunk.reutershealth.com (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Wed, 5 Mar 2003 18:05:47 -0500 Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: The Any thread To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 18:05:47 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: from "Craig" at Mar 05, 2003 05:55:34 PM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: John Cowan X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=8122456 X-Yahoo-Profile: john_w_cowan Craig scripsit: > This is what the Any interpretation means! No specific doctor is needed. Fair enough. > However, I do need a doctor, and when that doctor shows up e is likely > to be specific. "Specific", in the sense used in talking about Lojban gadri, is not a property of doctors but of references to them. When I say "there's a doctor in the next room", I may know perfectly well that the doctor is Tripp Hammer, but I am still referring non-specifically. > "I need a doctor" in English usually means "I need Any doctor", which would > be false if: > 1. There is a specific doctor that I need. I could then still need a doctor, > but I wouldn't need Any doctor, which is what I interpret lojban "mi nitcu > lo mikce" as meaning. Maybe it's just a glico bias, but I also think that my > interpretation makes more sense. Another problem here is that "I need any doctor" is singular, whereas "mi nitcu lo mikce" might signal a need for more than one doctor. "I need any doctors" sounds bizarre to me. > 2. My need can be filled without a doctor. Then I don't need a doctor. No controversy here. -- Winter: MIT, John Cowan Keio, INRIA, jcowan@reutershealth.com Issue lots of Drafts. http://www.ccil.org/~cowan So much more to understand! http://www.reutershealth.com Might simplicity return? (A "tanka", or extended haiku)