💾 Archived View for thrig.me › blog › 2023 › 08 › 18 › indirect-communication.gmi captured on 2024-07-09 at 01:08:58. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Indirect Communication

gunka fi le nu

mi viska pa katcpi .i

la'a bavlamdei

trabajo en ver un halcón—

¿mañana?

One might suspect that the work here isn't exactly the "bustle" expected by those who want the workers in the office and bustling like they did in Citizen Kane (I really did not like that movie). In lojban work (gunka) is in theory a very broad term, so may not have the Protestant work ethic notion that it has to some in other languages. The Japanese have a similar notion, except it's somehow wrapped up with Buddha instead of Luther.

The Spanish and the lojban differ; the lojban (mostly to make the poem fit 5/7/5) has ommited who is doing the work, so it could be I (mi gunka), or it could be past trilobytes acting as a mass (lei pu trilobita cu gunka) or stereotypical future soviet cows (le'e ba sofybakni cu gunka) or lots of other different things.

In theory haiku are supposed to have a "cutting word" and suitable season words though getting that all into lojban can sometimes be tricky, so maybe the small poem form needs to evolve into something more suitable for lojban, rather than trying to fit lojban to an existing form. Maybe the dangling .i on the second line is something of a 切れ字?

    gunka   (gismu)
            $x_{1}$ [person] labors/works on/at $x_{2}$ [activity] with
            goal/objective $x_{3}$.
            GLOSS work

So, back to work. Is it work to move your neck around and shield your eyes with the goal of seeing a bird of prey while laying around in a field? Some would call that lazy, who in turn would be called lazy for not being at the office and bustling about.

tags #haiku #lojban #smolpoem