Re: Weekly Vocab 6: to know
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Wednesday, May 7, 2003, 20:48 |
Christopher Wright scripsit:
> It's unthinkable that we can be more vague than the languages we're
> familiar with. There is a tendency to overcorrect this "problem" by making
> sometimes absurd distinctions.
Well, I argued (fairly successfully) that Lojban did not need a word for "tall",
given a root meaning "deep"; the view here is that whether we call something
"deep" or "tall" basically depends on whether we are at the top or the
bottom of it. The alternative was to use the compound "vertically-long" for
"tall", which I argued was not necessary. I was thinking explicitly of
Latin "altus".
In addition, the root "mushroom" was removed from the language on the grounds
that the root "fungus" did all the necessary work, as in Italian.
> "to advance slowly and menacingly, delivering deep terror while
> seeming absolutely confident in your success over the opponent".
Early in the Loglan Project, people advocated for roots (not compounds!)
meaning "is a bad programmer" and "respects someone's space".
I forget the latter, but the former was "terki" (as distinct from "turki" =
the bird).
> Hey! Did I exceed my posting limit for the week?
Fortunately we have no such limits yet, and aren't likely to during *my* watch.
--
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