This ought to be the canonical definition of an ambiguous sentence: a sentence that can reasonably be interpreted in materially different ways. (Ie: not something that makes sense one way and nonsense the other.)
Ideally it should be:
a) an instruction, order, or injunction (as above);
b) interpretable in mutually contradictory ways;
c) demanding correct interpretation to prevent catastrophic loss of life and/or property.
“But where is the ambiguity? Over there, in a box.”
If I can pare this down to a couple of lines can I steal it for a sig? It’s a great philosophy!
I remember seeing a sign on the back of an ice-cream truck one day:
Watch Children
The don’t want everyone to understand the reality that they chopped about 30% of the movie off at either end of the image so it would “properly” fit their TV screen.
Ah, just look at those adorable little ticklets!
There is no spoon.
Then there is always the problem with capitalization. One small mistake in the following sentence could be quite dramatic.
I helped my uncle Jack off a horse.
I don’t see how you possibly could, but be my guest. Just give me credit, please.
Joke I heard once:
A farmer is going to the big city for the first time. He walks past a hardware store and sees a sign in the window which says “CAST IRON SINKS.”
“By jimminy,” he says, “everybody knows that!”
People have already mentioned about the Slow Children. But it’s really our fault because we send them to a Slow School.
One of my favorite ambiguous sentences was from “Police Squad”.
Ed: “We found the ransom note. We sent it to the lab. They want a million dollars.”
Frank Drebin: Why does the lab want a million dollars?
Once I heard a news report stating that someone was “shot outside of a church.” Seems as if that Church was getting circus performers to climb into cannons and get blasted through a stained glass window.
Is this some kinda bust?
Very nice, yes, but you’re under arrest.
A restaurant had a sign that read:
HALF BROILED CHICKEN
I went home to get my camera and then I returned to take a picture of it. By the time I went by the restaurant again the next day the sign had been changed to read BROILED HALF CHICKEN.
How about the sign at one of our local McDonald’s locations:
PARKING FOR DRIVE-THRU CUSTOMERS ONLY
Um, what???
As our copy machine repairman once said: You shoot a lot of blacks in here, don’t you?
I don’t get it. What’s the other meaning of “blacks”?
That’s for when they can’t fill the drive-thru customer’s order quickly enough and rather than back up the whole line on one big/custom/odd order, they ask you to pull up and wait in a particular spot just ahead of the window. That way people behind you with orders of one burger and one coke can get sent on their way, while another worker fixes up the specialty sandwiches and stuff for yours.
Black people? :smack:
When I was young, I used to enjoy beating the carpets with my mother.
Regards,
Shodan
Job reference:
You will be lucky to get this person to work for you. 