Re: Zero-ness

BP Jonsson wrote:

> At 12:52 09.8.2000 -0500, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> >bjm10@CORNELL.EDU wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, 9 Aug 2000, Vasiliy Chernov wrote:
> > >
> > > > "Nihilar"?  :)
> > > >
> > > > (Don't ask me how to pronounce this in English)
> > >
> > > It would end up being something like /ni:-laR/ in my dialect
> >
> >If I had to use it, I would feel compelled to pronounce the <h>,
> >which makes it sound awkward for me.  Thus, my resistence of the
> >term.
>
> What is your problem with "nullar", if any?  It seems well formed in Latin
> and English.
I don't actually have a problem with "nullar".  All the terms put forward
so far seem a bit awkward to me, but perhaps this is mostly just a result
of never having used a term for something like this before.   I don't like
"nihilar" since it seems to suggest the lack of an object rather than an
abstract number which represents lack, period; nor do I find any of the
others particularly attractive.  I guess "nullar" wins by default.

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Tom Wier   |     "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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