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| ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
− | {{w|Lojban}} is a constructed language designed to be logical, unambiguous, and culturally neutral — similar to the better known artificial language {{w|Esperanto}}. The authors originally designed it as an experiment, but a few people have picked it up and tried to learn it. However, anyone actually willing to learn Lojban is someone [[Black Hat]] would rather avoid. Alternately, only people who speak Lojban, who compose an admittedly tiny proportion of the general population, could benefit from the logic of the language, making the benefits of Lojban mostly pointless to most people. | + | {{w|Lojban}} is an invented language specifically designed to have no ambiguous constructs at all. The authors mainly wanted to see if such a thing was possible, but it has a number of fans who believe the lack of ambiguities is a substantial benefit, making the language easier to use with fewer misunderstandings. However, anyone actually willing to learn a new language for this is someone [[Black Hat]] would rather avoid. |
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− | Clicking on the original comic brings you to [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/lojban_translated.png a Lojban translation of the comic]. The Lojban version literally translates to something like: | + | Clicking on the original comic brought you to a Lojban translation. |
− | :Cueball: Hypothetically, you becoming an expert in Lojban implies things you say would completely be an unambiguous meaning and logical.
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− | :Black Hat: Agreed, but would be talking to the people subgroup that is an expert in Lojban.
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− | If reading pedantically, a few mistakes can be identified:
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− | * "Hypothetically" is applied to the entire first sentence rather than the subclause "you are an expert in Lojban".
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− | * The word "pavysmu" is used in a way that indicates the things being said ''are'' an unambiguous meaning, rather than having a single meaning.
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− | * The subgroup of people is specified as being an expert in Lojban, not the people in it.
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− | The title text is also written in Lojban. It translates roughly as: "That was a joke. Really. Wanna be friends with me?" Since Lojban aims to be completely unambiguous, idiomatic structures like sarcasm and humor have associated particles - when a joke is made, it must be ''explicitly'' marked as such or else it's incorrect. Most languages rely on intonation expressing this, but Lojban does not, leading to the strange practice here of specifically pointing out that a joke was made. | + | The title-text is also written in Lojban. It translates roughly as: "That was a joke. Really. Wanna be friends with me?" |
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− | A more literal translation gives: "Humorously that false. Please is-it-true-that you friend me?"
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− | The lojban word {xekce} (shortened from {xekcedipasopa}, or XKCD-191), is based on this comic, referring to a particular Lojbanic cultural phenomenon in which discussions in or about Lojban tend to quickly turn into arguing over grammar, semantics, or usage.
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| ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
− | :[Cueball and Black Hat are having a conversation.]
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− | :[English version:]
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| :Cueball: If you learned to speak Lojban, your communication would be completely unambiguous and logical. | | :Cueball: If you learned to speak Lojban, your communication would be completely unambiguous and logical. |
| :Black Hat: Yeah, but it would all be with the kind of people who learn Lojban. | | :Black Hat: Yeah, but it would all be with the kind of people who learn Lojban. |
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− | :[Lojban version:]
| + | {{comic discussion}} |
− | :Cueball: da'i ganai do crebi'o la lojban gi le se cusku be do cu mulno pavysmu je logji
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− | :Black Hat: .i .ie ku'i cusku fi le prenu klesi poi certu la lojban
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− | {{comic discussion}}
| + | [[Category:Language]] |
| [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] |
| [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]] | | [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]] |
− | [[Category:Language]]
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