Re: Bootstrapping a cooperative conlang

--- MorphemeAddict@WMCONNECT.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 11/17/2007 9:01:00 PM Central Standard Time,
> fiziwig@YAHOO.COM writes:
<snip 4.3 bazzilion definitions for mouse>

So which one comes to mind when a little girl jumps up on the chair and shouts
"Eeek! A mouse!"? And which would you use in the name "Mickey Mouse", (or
"Mighty Mouse")? And what do ask for at the store when you want a "mouse trap"?

A conlang that will only ever be used for casual socializing on the Internet
certainly doesn't need more than one word for "generic mouse". And in English,
at least, "mouse" is a genus name, not a species name: "A mouse (plural mice)
is a rodent that belongs to one of numerous species of small mammals." --
Wikipedia

--gary

>
> On the other hand, how many people can tell a mouse from a shrew?  (The
> little critter keeps sneaking into my kitchen!)
>
> stevo   </HTML>
>