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It sounds like you're talking about garden-path sentences [0], and in particular: "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" [1]. These are sentences
by QuinnWilton 7y ago
It sounds like you're talking about garden-path sentences [0], and in particular: "time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" [1]. These are sentences whose structure tricks the reader into making an incorrect parse. My favourite of these has always been: "The horse raced past the barn fell".
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_frui...
- lsb 7y agoI've always enjoyed the multiple valid parses of "Time flies like an arrow". I can't wait for AI to generate more Escher sentences like "More people have been to Russia than I have" ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_illusion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_illusion )
- Doxin 7y agoYou know, I only just now got the second interpretation of that sentence. I always thought of it like "Time flies like an arrow (straight and in one direction), Fruit flies like a banana (when thrown)" Obvious in hindsight...
- kees99 7y agoSame here, except it's comparing fly's flight trajectory to that of a banana is new to me.
- saalweachter 7y ago"The horse raced past the barn fell, which has been haunted since all those teenagers were murdered there." (Noun-adjective is a rare formation, but amusingly more common in the same situations where the author uses rare and archaic definitions like the adjective "fell".)