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On Thu, 24 Oct 2002, John Cowan wrote:
> Jorge Llambias scripsit:
>
> > Suppose you tell me "I need a box to put these books in.
> > Please get me one."
>
> mi nitcu pa le tanxe selcmi poi seltisna lei cukta
>
> > I would say: {mi nitcu lo'e tanxe lo nu setca
> > lei vi cukta ty i e'o ko cpagau mi ty}.
>
> I don't know how to supply you with the typical box, any more than I
> can capture the typical lion. That is, mi kavbu lo'e cinfo is false,
> and by the same token mi cpacu lo'e tanxe is false too.
>
> It occurs to me that some confusion may be caused by taking "lo'e cinfo"
> to mean not "the typical lion" but "a typical lion", that is an actual
> lion which closely resembles in relevant ways the abstract typical lion.
Jorge is referring to the statistical mode (sort of like a lion of the
type that is a numerical plurality), and John is referring something more
like the statistical average (an abstract entity, like a set). I think the
CLL defines lo'e as the latter; the former could be le fadni cinfo.
--
Henry McCullers, an affable Plano, TX-area anti-Semite, praised the
Jewish people Monday for doing "a bang-up job" running the media.
"This has been such a great year for movies, and the new crop of fall
TV shows looks to be one of the best in years," McCullers said.
"And the cable news channels are doing a terrific job, too. Admittedly,
they're not reporting on the Jewish stranglehold on world finance,
but, hey, that's understandable."