Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: Questions

From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 09:54:09 +0300

Jorge Llambias wrote:
> The answer can't be just a number, it has to be something
> like {lo nanca be li 33}, so you end up using nanca anyway.
[...]
> I think that an equivalent of the short and standard
> English form "how old are you?" is best achieved by
> {do nanca ma}.

What if you're asking how old a baby is, and the answer is going
to be expressed in months, weeks or days rather than years?
Should you reformulate the question accordingly? (Some natlangs
do, others do not.)

> As I see it, the duration of the referent of {mi} is
> from my birth to now. My past experiences are certainly
> a part of what I am. I can't say the same about the future,

<smiling> This from the same person who was looking for full
symmetry between the past and the future in the {za'o} thread.

> so I think it is ok to treat my present self as lasting
> from my birth till now.

Arguably, though, you weren't your present self before you had
those experiences, so your present self lasts but this moment.

--Ivan