Phone game: TV

[Ivan A Derzhanski <cbmvax!uunet!COGSCI.ED.AC.UK!iad>]

>  Date:        Mon, 29 Jun 1992 18:19:11 BST
>  From: CJ FINE <C.J.Fine@BRADFORD>
>
>  Ivan comments on the Phone Game:
>
>  > In general, my strategy as a fonxa kelci is based on the understanding
>  > that the sentence(s) I get from Mark are to be translated faithfully,
>  > even if real world knowledge suggests that he intends something else
>  > than the obtained meaning, and that his additional comments must not
>  > be read until my own translation has gone off to Colin, or if read
>  > must be ignored and not allowed to influence my understanding of the text.
>
>  I too have followed this strategy (though I confess I have sometimes
>  allowed guesses about the English to govern the style of my translation,
>  but not the content).

I seldom appended any comments to the text that went to you, though,
whereas Mark always did, and I had to resist the temptation to resolve
my doubts by letting myself be influenced by them.

>  > >  .ua doza'a cavi jundi le vidni doi citnau  .ibabo do klama gi'ebabo
>  > >  sraji .i'e zutse gi'e na kelci le sanmi
>  >
>  > I didn't mean "go" in "you'll go and ..." to be interpreted literally
>  > (as {klama}).  Is there really no such idiom in English?
>
>  Yes, of course there is, but I'm following the precept we just
>  discussed!

Meaning, you can't tell whether my "go and ..." is idiomatic or not?
True, I hadn't thought of that.  I employed all my idiomatic English
struggling to express the shades of meaning for which Lojban has
straightforward attitudinals, but I ought've been more careful with
idioms that also have a plausible literal interpretation.

Ivan