Re: Letf / Right, was Re: Count and mass nouns

Costentin Cornomorus scripsit:

> What, left and right? Those are, like, cardinal
> directions. Much more fundamental than east or
> west.
Nope, it depends on the language/culture.  There are definitely languages
that think absolute directions (not always compass points, can be things
like upriver/downriver, coastal/inland) are more fundamental than self-relative
ones like left/right, front/back.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
"The exception proves the rule."  Dimbulbs think: "Your counterexample proves
my theory."  Latin students think "'Probat' means 'tests': the exception puts
the rule to the proof."  But legal historians know it means "Evidence for an
exception is evidence of the existence of a rule in cases not excepted from."

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