2008/12/12 Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>om>:
Next, let's say that if A-B and B-C are connected,
then A-C
are too.
No. That's only generally true for equality relations.
Equivalence relations are not equality relations.
Actually, transitivity is a requirement for an equivalence relation.
(In addition to symmetry (A~B => B~A) and reflexivity (A~A for all
A).)
Ok, I used the wrong phrase, but it's still very much the case that
the interlanguage relationship definitely isn't transitive, and he's
assuming it is.
--
-Ian Woollard
We live in an imperfectly imperfect world. Life in a perfectly
imperfect world would be much better.