# "Quine" this **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 15, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996 "2008-06-15T10:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/1 "2008-06-15T10:58:38Z")
Doug Hofstaeder commented on/invented the concept of the “quined” sentence. Essentially a quine is a sentence fragment that , due to an inherently self referential structure, only makes sense when added to itself as a quote… the fragment “Makes sense, only when followed by itself” only makes sense when it is doubled, without the quote marks on the second part. ie “Makes sense, only when followed by itself” makes sense, only when followed by itself. or “Talks about itself” talks about itself. What quines can YOU create? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/2 "2008-06-15T11:27:04Z")
“Has one verb” has one verb. ---
**Author:** ![hocow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hocow/32/4112_2.png) [@hocow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hocow)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/3 "2008-06-15T12:31:35Z")
“Can’t stand alone” can’t stand alone. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/4 "2008-06-15T13:05:29Z")
Borrowing the handle of an ex-(?) Doper: **Eats\_Crayons** eats crayons. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/5 "2008-06-15T15:07:34Z")
[QUOTE=hocow] “Can’t stand alone” can’t stand alone. [/QUOTE] Oooh, I see what you did there. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/6 "2008-06-15T16:29:23Z")
“Has been quined” has been quined. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/7 "2008-06-16T05:36:47Z")
Great responses everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/8 "2008-06-16T06:02:54Z")
“Has three words” “Has eighteen letters” “Could be the second line in a sonnet” (if one is forgiving with scansion) “Is what I just said” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/9 "2008-06-16T06:16:49Z")
“Former Voidoids guitarist Robert Quine” … uh, doesn’t really work. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/10 "2008-06-16T14:07:18Z")
The more common usage of quine is as a noun to describe a computer program that prints out a copy of itself when executed. See [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29) for details. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/11 "2008-06-16T14:22:07Z")
“Is in English” is in English. “Does not contain an adjective but contains a conjunction” does not contain an adjective but contains a conjunction. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/12 "2008-06-16T15:44:28Z")
“Went” went. “Left” left. “Departed” departed. “Exists” exists. “Is” is. (Probably the shortest one possible.) ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/13 "2008-06-16T16:10:29Z")
“I said” I said ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/14 "2008-06-16T21:54:43Z")
"Like, so I said ‘I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity, like so’ ", I said, as I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/15 "2008-06-16T22:01:10Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] "Like, so I said ‘I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity, like so’ ", I said, as I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t look exactly like a Quine, because the second instance of the sentence is not exactly the same as the first… Even though the whole is quite nice, I have to say! Just my 2 eurocent! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/16 "2008-06-16T22:11:26Z")
[QUOTE=JoseB] Doesn’t look exactly like a Quine, because the second instance of the sentence is not exactly the same as the first… Even though the whole is quite nice, I have to say! Just my 2 eurocent! [/QUOTE] Indeed. Corrected version: "Like, so I said ‘As I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity like so’ ", I said, as I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/17 "2008-06-16T22:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Indeed. Corrected version: "Like, so I said ‘As I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity like so’ ", I said, as I started to tell my killer joke at the office, the one that always gets a huge laugh and makes people roll with hilarity. [/QUOTE] Still not there. Your first part starts with “Like, so” which isn’t in the second part. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/18 "2008-06-16T22:24:33Z")
[QUOTE=Asimovian] Still not there. Your first part starts with “Like, so” which isn’t in the second part. [/QUOTE] Yes, it is. Look closer. I’m assuming we’re flexible on matters of puncutation. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/19 "2008-06-16T22:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I’m assuming we’re flexible on matters of puncutation. [/QUOTE] The parts inside and outside the quotes have to be identical. What you have is clever, but it’s not a quine. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996/20 "2008-06-16T22:42:47Z")
Pretty boring and routine, but to be expected to pop up at some point: “does not accurately describe itself” does not accurately describe itself. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quine-this/452996.md?page=2)