February 24, 2010
Did you hear the one about the buffalo?
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.”
What? You didn’t get that? It’s a perfectly good sentence.
For those of you who don’t know, “buffalo” is a very versatile word. It can be a singular or plural noun (meaning any of various wild oxen, including the American bison), a proper noun (a city in western New York), or a verb (meaning to bully, baffle, or bewilder).
Basically, the sentence above describes the pecking order of buffalo in the city of Buffalo. It’s a bit easier to understand when we substitute alternate words for “buffalo”:
Buffalo bison [that] Buffalo bison bully[,] bully Buffalo bison.
(Really, it’s grammatically correct.)
And if that’s not enough for you, here’s a similar sentence starring my favorite animal: “Dogs dogs dog dog dogs.”
Know of any others? Do share!
Special thanks to my brother-in-law-to-be, lover of all things peculiar, for bringing this grammatical monstrosity to my attention.
Filed by rebecca at 6:05 pm under For the love of words
Is it too late or am I just dense? I don’t quite get how to read the sentences!
You’re not dense! It took me a long time to figure it out myself. You have to insert “that” the first few times you read it to get the syntax. Try this: “Dogs [that] dogs dog, dog [other] dogs.” Hopefully that helps (?) …
An Alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote, “Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.”
The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: “There are only nine words here. You could send another ‘Woof’ for the same price.”
“But,” the dog replied, “that would make no sense at all.”
LOL. Love it, Dad!