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25 June 2008

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

How awesome is English!?

The above is a grammatically correct sentence, using three meanings of the word 'buffalo': the bison, the place, and the verb, which means 'to bully'.

So, it means: the buffalo from Buffalo who are bullied by other buffalo from Buffalo, also bully buffalo from Buffalo.

Getit? No? Here's the Wikipedia article, which also provides a link to the article on "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher".

7 comments:

Christopher Miles said...

Weird, that's the second reference to this I've seen today.

The first occurred while I was on a Doctor Who forum. I thought it was a repeated reference to the password to UNIT's missile launcher as seen in 'World War Three'. Now I know I was wrong.

Wrong, and clearly a sad fscking nerd.

Though possibly not as nerdy as William J Rapaport.

lili said...

It was on something today... and I couldn't remember to attribute. possibly gizmodo.

there, i also am a nerd.

Jess the Reader said...

Pressure building... head exploding...

Anonymous said...

Also, the buffalo and double buffalo are tap dancing moves. I have heard them used as both nouns and verbs, as in 'Great buffalo, Lili! Smooth!' and 'Whoa there Jelly, slow down or you'll buffalo your way off the stage.'

Is lulz.

Adam said...

I can't make it work. I've got it this far:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

as in "Bison bully bison from Buffalo"

but the next two "buffalo" don't seem to make sense. It's either

"bully bison"
or
"bison bully"
or
"bully bully"
or
"bison bison"

which makes the sentence either:

"Bison bully bison from Buffalo bully bison bison from Buffalo"

or

"Bison bully bison from Buffalo bison bully bison from Buffalo"

or

"Bison bully bison from Buffalo bully bully bison from Buffalo"

or

"Bison bully bison from Buffalo bison bison bison from Buffalo"

*scratches head*

Adam said...

oh. okay. i read the wiki. i get it.

Verano Libre De Drogas said...

Nice post thanks for sharing.