On 10/4/08, Mark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I was thinking recently about how a user interface in Lojban would be
> labelled, and I came up a bit of a blank, because I can't see how a command
> is presented (as opposed to commanded) in lojban..
> In a typical real UI there are three things a button can say:
> 1) What the user does by pressing it ("Accept", "Dismiss")
> 2) What the computer does when the user presses it ("Apply", "Search")
> 3) What the user notionally communicates by pressing it ("OK")
> For 2), for instance, you can't just say "Sisku" on the button, as that (as
> I understand it) means "Look, a search/something searches!" which makes no
> sense in context. Would the button read "ko sisku" ("Hey you, Search!")?
> It feels a bit weird to me, but would it to a lojbanistanian?
Actually in English the phrase; eg, "Find Next", is actually already
grammatically an imperative; and at least in my high school English
textbooks, it is claimed that English imperatives already have the
implied subject of "you". So, the only "oddness" that I see is the
"subject" has to be explicitly given in Lojban.
> 1) I have no idea how to do. For Accept - "mi fitytu'i"?
I think that will work; the user is "entering" a statement that means
"I Accept (elided)". Indeed, in English the usage "Accept" is not
strictly grammatically correct ; "Accept" should be interpreted as a
imperative to the computer, not as a _description_ of one's own
"action". However, like "daylight savings time", instead of the more
correct "daylight saving time", the "Accept" problem _in English_ is a
case where usage has overridden strict grammatical correctness.
> 3), at least, is fairly clear - "je'e". In fact, I'm glad for this, as it
> eliminates the ugliness of having to use the English "OK" (as in "All your
> data has been lost <OK>").
