aphorisms & cultural gismu

[And Rosta <cbmvax!uunet!UCL.AC.UK!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!ucleaar>]

(1)
John Parks-Clifford fears Lojban aphorisms to be relatively longwinded, but
I think literal aphorisms are definitely a text-type where maximal precision
is to be desired. They remain short & pithy relative to the importance of the
information they convey. The literal type of aphorism is to be contrasted with
the metonymic types of aphorism such as _Too many cooks spoil the broth_
and _The probability of the bread falling buttered side down is directly
proportional to the cost of the carpet_. In these cases stylistic considerations
are what count.

I would like to offer an aphorism (one might call it a sutra) for translation:
(in English:) All land is collectively owned by everyone.
The intended meaning is that all the non-living material substance of this
planet is the 'possessed' argument of a single instance of owning, whose
'possessor' argument is the set containing all people.
I guess it should go something like:
pa boi [selbri: own] [FA: owner] [all] [LE] prenu [FA: owned] tedytu'a
(or some better lujvo)

(2) I can't quite fathom the selection criteria for cultural gismu. Most
of them seem to be places where the languages Lojban derived its gismu
from are spoken. Is this right? What happens to the rest? I can't help
feeling that there's a certain kudos to being a gismu rather than a
le'avla! My first impulse on reading the gismu list was to speak up
for:
	camri	Welsh
	madja	Hungarian
	skera	Basque
& it was with irrational chagrin that I realized that their exclusion was
probably principled and not a slight on the gismuless.
Why are Canadians kadno and not kando? Is someone worried that people
would then make jokes about them being dim (kandi)? cizra! I don't
think if I said in lojban "You're looking a bit pale today" anyone would
think I'd said "You're looking a bit Canadian today" (unless they were
also carrying a maple leaf, say).
---------
fe lei da'u cu zbasu fa .o'a le brito be fa la .and.

		e'osai se ciksi la lojban