Buffalo

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Maybe this is one of those things most of you have heard about, but I just heard of it today:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

is a gramatically correct sentence ! How cool is that.

2

That’s right up there with “Fuck the fucking fuckers.”

3

James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.

Wha?

4

IMO, that one really goes beyond the limit of being an example. Explaining it isn’t just a matter of putting in the commas and explaining what ‘had had’ is, but presupposing that ‘had had’ exists, unlike ‘buffalo buffalo’.

5

Hunh. I kinda thought that made it even better.

I guess it all depends what it’s supposed to be an example of.

6

As a native Buffalonian I’m buffaloed at the whole thing.

7

And you a teacher. :rolleyes:

And an Ipswich man to boot. [sup]*[/sup] :stuck_out_tongue:

“Thank you, I have had a good time.”
much later
“Why did you say that?”
“Because I had had a good time.”

Unless you’re able to assert some overarching reason why the verb “to have” shouldn’t have a pluperfect tense, composed as the auxiliary “had” with the past participle like every other verb, of course. It may look odd given that the participle and auxiliary are the same in this case, but no odder than Buffalo looking like buffalo.

  • Which is what they’re mostly for.
8

In Thai, “Mai mai mai mai mai” means “New wood doesn’t burn, does it?”’ but you have to give each “mai” the correct tone.

9

The upper-class buffaloes from Buffalo buffalo the lower-class buffaloes from Buffalo that are buffaloed by the middle-class buffaloes from Buffalo.

If you think of this in the context of separate groups of buffaloes from the city of Buffalo, it makes more sense. But the first time I saw it, it was a major mind-fuck, I’ll admit.

10

And still is - since the sentence is closer to “The middle-class buffaloes that are buffaloed by the upper-class buffaloes in their own turn buffalo the lowerclass buffaloes”. (“From Buffalo” omitted throughout.) :slight_smile:

It’s all perfectly something-or-other, but it’s really hard to work into the conversation. :smiley: