Re: may the wind....

[Andrew Smith <adms@YCO.LEEDS.AC.UK>]

la bob. uais. cusku lu
"As I understand Lojban, the literal translation of these aphorisms
contains no more than their literal meaning, e.g., either that there
should be some wind in back of a person (now what could that mean?) or
that some wind should be blowing towards his back. " li'u

Absolutely.

We should of course translate "may the wind..." first into what it means,
something like
?? "I hope always/most of the time you are helped (by something)" ??
and then into lojban

.a'o roroi sidju do
or
.a'o so'aroi sidju do
or whatever.

There is a mechanism for making something figurative, by using pe'a and a
closing marker which I can't remember. But this begs the important
questions:

1) What does "pe'a .a'o roroi brife le do trixe"  actually MEAN in lojban?
2) How can pe'a be understood by lojbo without reference to their
(non-lojban) culture(s)?
3) And, underlying these two: is there any point in using or even having
pe'a?

co'o mi'e andruc.
[adms@yco.leeds.ac.uk]