Subject: [lojban] Re: The Any thread

From: "Craig" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 21:15:59 -0500

>> But, doctors do exist, and if they didn't there wouldn't be one I don't
>> need. And claims that the existence of a specific doctor that I don't
need
>> falsifies my reading of "mi nitcu lo mikce", but I claim the existence of
a
>> specific doctor that I do need would falsify it, and e is just
>> misinterpreting.

>No, you can need something that doesn't exist.

I need the doctor to exist, and I need a doctor. I can't need the doctor if
the doctor is nonexistant. However, if I need a specific doctor, I claim
that that is not "mi nitcu lo mikce" but "mi nitcu la mic.rod." (I need Dr
Foo) or whatever. I will concede that technically, it wouldn't be worng to
say "mi nitcu lo mikce" for "mi nitcu la mic.rod." but it would be
uncommunicative in most cases. However, I maintain that "mi nitcu lo mikce"
is correct for "I need a doctor" in the Any sense.

>BTW, "doctor" is not a good translation for "mikce", since the latter
>also includes nurses, paramedics etc.

The question was originally how to say "I need a doctor." A nurse,
paramedic, etc is qualified to fill my need in many cases, so mikce works.
But the BTW you should have used is probably that "mikce" isn't a perfect
translation of "doctor".