51–60 of 114 posts
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Sure, but "go ask a bunch of people which hand they write with" seems like a huge copout to me. It's like if prime numbers were defined as, "The numbers most mathematicians say are prime."
So how would you propose to explain which side is which?
Edit: works where I live. YMMV. Adapt as needed (which I thought about saying but decided wasn't needed here.)
Has there been any attempts to 'translate' this into other languages? I'm struggling most often with vocabulary first, whereas the grammar is much easier for me to grasp (programming helps?)
Seconded, I _need_ this for German.
Reminds me of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach in linguistics by Anna Wierzbicka, Cliff Goddard and others. Nice to see, that there is actually quite some overlap both in quantity as well as in the actual words.
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The dictionary starts with those 60 words, like axioms in mathematics. Then it builds up a vocabulary on top of them. Left is defined this way: [X is on the right side of your body.] = X is on this side of your body: Most people write using the hand they have on this side of their body. So "on a side of", "people", "be/is", are included in those first 60 words. "body", "write", "hand", etc. are defined after the firs…
Sure, but "go ask a bunch of people which hand they write with" seems like a huge copout to me. It's like if prime numbers were defined as, "The numbers most mathematicians say are prime."
If you ask me "what type of person doesn't know what 'left' means", my answer would be "either a child or a foreigner who just started learning the language". For that audience, even saying "the side where your heart is" (like some other comment suggests) would require knowing what "heart" means, which might not be a good assumption for this specific audience.
This is very interesting -- a kind of topological sort of the dictionary. It seems like a very natural thing to want to do with subject-specific glossaries as well. Often when I approach a new topic or hobby I want a glossary of all the jargon up front, and I want the words ordered from least to most demanding of in-knowledge.
I am a newbie to topology, so please help me. What is a topological sort and why does it describe this?
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So how would you propose to explain which side is which?
Use an asymmetry of the human body. Left is on the same side as your heart.
Not as common as left-handedness (one in ten), but still in the order of one in ten thousand people.
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So how would you propose to explain which side is which?
Left: Face the noon sun. Lift one arm to point at where it was first seen this morning. Edit: works where I live. YMMV. Adapt as needed (which I thought about saying but decided wasn't needed here .)
That...fails to be generally accurate pretty badly.
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Left: Face the noon sun. Lift one arm to point at where it was first seen this morning. Edit: works where I live. YMMV. Adapt as needed (which I thought about saying but decided wasn't needed here .)
> Left: Face the noon sun. Lift one arm to point at where it was first seen this morning. That...fails to be generally accurate pretty badly.