Wiki page BPFK Section: Subordinators changed
Rob Speer wrote:
>On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 03:47:08PM -0400, xod wrote:
>
>
>>>{lo botpi be fo noda} is a valid way of referring to lidless bottles.
>>>That's {zo'e noi ke'a botpi fo no da}, i.e. "the obvious thing,
>>>which is NOT a bottle with some lid". {lo botpi be fo noda}
>>>is {lo na botpi be fo su'o da}.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>Do you realize that in usage, people usually use "noda" to mean "lacks a
>>lid", and not this contradiction of the entire sentence which you are
>>performing, which generally results in something meaningless (applicable
>>to camels, stars, etc)
>>
>>
>
>Funny, I thought that in usage people used "noda" to mean "nothing".
>
>I'm pretty sure that it's more useful to keep things like "mi viska noda"
>meaning "I don't see anything", than to facilitate talking about lidless
>bottles.
>
>
Aren't the 2 usages identical? A bottle without a lid, a seer that
doesn't see anything? Although, if we get literal enough, I suppose it
is a contradiction of sorts to be a seer that doesn't see anything. If
you don't see anything, you're a potential or previous seer, but not one
at the moment and in that context. So a better translation is probably
"mi na viska", instead of "mi viska noda".
>It's not meaningless. You might as well be complaining that describing
>something as "not green" is meaningless, because that description fits
>elephants as well as it fits red things. Something can have a lot of referents
>and still be meaningful.
>
>
I think it's more along the lines of trying to say "lidless bottle" or
"seer that sees nothing" and ending up saying "camel or star". Not very
helpful!
--
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