What do you call a sentence that uses the same word repeatedly, in succession? Eg: '‘I think that that ‘that’ that that man used in that sentence was wrong’. What’s the craziest one you know?
Buffalo x7. It means something about how some buffalo from Buffalo, NY are intimidating some other buffalo.
semantic satiation
Linguistics teasers.
While trying to make sense of the buffalo one, I googled and found this: “James, while John had had ‘had’, had had ‘had had’; ‘had had’ had had a better effect on the teacher.” Still don’t know what this is called, though.
Also, an example in German: Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach! Fliegen fliegen Fliegen nach, wenn…? Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen.
DING DING DING! I googled it, and that’s the one. Thanks!
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
It means that bison from a city in New York who are intimidated by other bison from a city in New York in turn intimidate still other bison from a city in New York.
I’ve also seen: Chad where Brad had had “had”, had had “had had”; “had had” had had a better effect with the teacher.
It means that on a test, there was a blank where Brad had put the word “had” and Chad had put the words “had had” and that the words “had had” had pleased the teacher more than the word “had” had.
There’s not enough space between Click and and and and and Clack. He said when he wanted the Click and Clack sign spaced out more.
That sentence would be a lot clearer if you’d stick quotation marks between “between” and “Click”, and “Click” and “and”, and “and” and “and”, and “and” and “and”, and “and” and “and”, and “and” and “Clack”, and “Clack” and the period.
I would have preferred that you include brackets around ‘“between” and “Click”’, and ‘“Click” and “and”’, and ‘and “and” and “and”’, and ‘and “and” and “and”’, and ‘and “and” and “and”’, and ‘and “and” and “and”’, and ‘and “and” and “Clack”’, and ‘and “Clack” and the period’.
Wow. The word and looks so ridiculously weird to me right now. Definitely suffering from semantic satiation.