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> "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically correct sentence in American English, often presented as an example of h
by knodi123 8y ago
> "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically correct sentence in American English, often presented as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs through lexical ambiguity. It has been discussed in literature in various forms since 1967, when it appeared in Dmitri Borgmann's Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffal...
- jpatokal 8y agoThe big difference is that in Chinese, the written form of the poem is clear and unambiguous (if not terribly sensible), whereas in English that makes no sense without a detailed explanation of how you're supposed to parse it.
- coldtea 8y agoYeah, I doubt anybody in real life (as opposed in an academic setting, or after having read this) ever actually knew more than 2 or 3 of those contrived definitions of buffalo (basically the animal and the place) needed to make this work...
- hammock 8y agoThere are only 3 meanings used in that sentence.
- coldtea 8y agoLooked it up and you're right, I remembered it as having more, but those (what was more) where the roles played by each of the repetitions of the 3 basic meanings (noun, verb, relative clause, verb phrase -- "buffalo", "buffaloed" (bullied), "from Buffalo", "to buffalo", "that's a bufallo (bully)", etc)