Re: Lojban

Ceqli <rmay@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Given all this, how do you say s****ts in Lojban, as in "news, s****ts,
>and weather"?

That will depend on what you mean by it - the context is insufficient
to identify the intended meaning.

If you are sufficiently specific in your meaning, Lojban will have a
number of possible words that would cover whatever concept.  Using
metaphor translation, we might have compete-play or play-competition
or skill-competition, muscle play or muscle-rule-play

>I'm not at all sure that cultural neutrality is an attainable goal,
>even approximately.  Are there natlangs that have no word for 's****ts'
>in the English sense?

I suspect that most of them do not.  They will have one or more words
that translates "s****ts", but they will NOT have the exact same
meaning.  This is just like my oft-cited example of how the Russian
word for arm includes the hand, and there is no distinct word for
"hand" - you have fingers on the end of your arm.  So when a Russian
translates the English word "hand" the word used actually means "arm"

>If there are, how do they handle the concept?

They will obviously try to use a word which is sufficient to cover the
specific s****ts being talked about.

lojbab