Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: zoi gy. Good Morning! .gy.

From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2000 08:18:29 +0200

David Scriven wrote:
> la xorxes. cusku di'e
> >I think {toldapma} will do it.
> 
> Thank you! (toldapma) does seem useful here, although it brings to
> mind ARJ's criticism that the only way to say "old" in lojban is to
> say "un-young."

No, I think this one is much worse. The concepts `young' and `old'
are in fact scalar opposites. What scale are `curse' and `bless' on?

> As [email-masked] just pointed out to me, the English greeting
> 'good morning" is actually extremely vague in terms of meaning and
> intent, despite its relative uniformity as a convention. It can be
> interpreted as a mere formality, or as an observation, or a wish,
> or a blessing, etc.

`What do you mean?' he said. `Do you wish me a good morning,
or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not;
or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning
to be good on?'

Unlike Gandalf (and unlike Pycyn, it seems), I fail to see
how `good morning' can be thought of as anything other than
a mere formality. When was the last time you decided not
to say `good morning' to someone because it was not really
a good morning (it was raining, say), or you thought a good
morning was not something you wanted to wish him?

There is a perfectly good Lojban expression to use in all those
situations in which English speakers say `good morning', namely
{coi}. What do you need another one for?

--Ivan