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<p>I see no problem at all with <b>DIS ret.</b></p>
<p>Yes, if <b>ben</b> were used alone, it would mean <i>one or
more years ago. </i>I think that's what people mean when they
use it that way; they intend to be vague.<br>
</p>
<br>
On 12/6/2016 12:25 PM, André Müller wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CABDLMbUgqLva+BSoNVYzU2x4gcjXoNjcF4dSf6gwikFfbupmgA@mail.gmail.com"
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<div>I agree, after thinking about what {ben} means, there's
actually no reason not to use it. It just seemed unusual
to me.<br>
</div>
However, there is a slight difference between {ben} and
{benmey}. The latter means "years ago" and could be anything
between 2 and 13 billion. {ben} itself can be interpreted as
singular or (unmarked) plural, so it can mean "a year ago"
or "years ago". {benmey} cannot mean "a year ago".<br>
</div>
But I wouldn't just use {ben} alone. If I'd see it in a text,
I'd interprete it as meaning "one or more years ago".<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>I wonder if {DIS ret} is possible as a kind of synonym of
{ben}. I wouldn't use it. But it might not be strictly wrong.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
- André<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2016-12-06 18:04 GMT+01:00 SuStel <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:sustel@trimboli.name" target="_blank">sustel@trimboli.name</a>></span>:<br>
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<p>I can understand the hesitancy with using <b>ben
law'.</b> As a time expression, <b>ben</b> by
itself points to a time, albeit a vague one. But it's
a noun that indicates a point in time. So what does it
mean if you have more than one <b>ben</b>? What are <b>benmey</b>?</p>
<p>Surely we already know the answer to that: <b>cha'
ben</b> means <i>two years ago,</i> so <b>cha'
benmey</b> also means <i>two years ago.</i>
Multiple <b>benmey</b> means exactly the same thing
as singular <b>ben</b>. So I see no grammatical
reason why we can't speak of <b>ben law'</b>. <b>wa'
ben, cha' ben, ben law'</b><i> one year ago, two
years ago, many years ago.</i></p>
<p>As for the original question, I'm not sure I see any
significant difference between <b>SaD law' ben</b>
and <b>SaD ben law'.</b> I think I'd go for the
former, since it makes more sense to me to speak of
years ago counting in the many thousands, rather than
having many thousand-years-agos.<br>
</p>
<br>
On 12/6/2016 11:46 AM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:<br>
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<p dir="ltr"><br>
Andre Muller:<br>
> I might also accept {ben law'} as many years<br>
> ago, although I'm not sure it works well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I remember voragh once writing: {ben
law'qu'} has been used many times on this list to
indicate "once upon a time".</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now, as far as the three possible choices I
wrote are concerned, I think that they are all valid
with the meaning only slightly changing from one to
the other:</p>
<p dir="ltr">{SaD DIS ret law'} = many (thousands of
years ago)</p>
<p dir="ltr">{SaD DIS law' ret} = (many thousands of
years) ago</p>
<p dir="ltr">{SaD law' DIS ret} = (many thousands) of
years ago</p>
<p dir="ltr">If the above analysis is correct, then
perhaps this all comes down to personal preference.</p>
<p dir="ltr">qunnoH jan puqloD<br>
ghoghwIj HablI'vo' vIngeHta'</p>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 6 Dec 2016 6:32 pm, "André
Müller" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:esperantist@gmail.com"
target="_blank">esperantist@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
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<div>
<div>Don't forget that "years ago" is {ben},
so you can either say:<br>
</div>
1) {SaD DIS law' ret} = many millennia ago,
or<br>
</div>
2) {SaD law' ben} = many thousand years ago.<br>
</div>
<div>And these essentially mean the same.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I might also accept {ben law'} as many
years ago, although I'm not sure it works
well.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>- André<br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2016-12-06 16:01
GMT+01:00 mayqel qunenoS <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mihkoun@gmail.com"
target="_blank">mihkoun@gmail.com</a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
#ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p dir="ltr">In order to indicate "many
millenia ago", which is the correct choice
?</p>
<p dir="ltr">{SaD DIS ret law'}, {SaD DIS
law' ret} or {SaD law' DIS ret} ?</p>
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<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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