Given that the word 'buffalo' is the name of an animal, a city in America where that animal could theoretically be found and a verb meaning to bully; the following sentence, invented by linguist William J. Rapaport, is grammatically correct: 'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.' The meaning is that buffalo from Buffalo who are buffaloed by other buffalo from Buffalo, themselves go on to buffalo a third group of buffalo from Buffalo. A tragic glimpse there into the vicious cycle of abuse rife in the bison community of upstate New York. William J. Rapaport, by the way, is an associate professor at the University of Buffalo. So, presumably, this is all based on an eye-witness account. Anyway, the point is... here is a drawing of a buffalo.
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33 comments:
I think that within the field of anthropology, linguists have the most fun. They certainly have the most interesting things to say.
I want to write a song called 'Buffalo' now. I'm sure you can guess what the lyrics would be.
Were you sit in from of him in the tube too???
By the way, isn't that a gnu???
my poor bullied dear. </3... Also, sir, you are awesome.
I can imagine a hundred buffalo...
~theficklepickle
It's official. You are one of my favorite people.
I'm really looking forward to more of these drawings-- they're so fantastic!
For your next master work of art, let's see a nice drawing along the lines of Fernando Botero or Rubens. Would be interested in your take on the classic female form.
You can see the sadness in his eyes, bless him...
He's probably ruing his haircut.
If residents of Buffalo see a buffalo it's usually in the zoo or on the plate. They're raised for meat around these parts (upstate NY, that is).
Prof. Rapaport was obviously out to beat the previous record holder, the German sentence "Wenn hinter Pfliegen fliegen Pfliegen, fliegen Pfliegen Pfliegen nach." In English "If flies fly behind flies, flies fly after flies", "fliegen" and "Pfliegen" sounding almost exactly alike.
Gnus have the dodgy horns that meet in the middle
@Daedalus:
It's Fliege/Fliegen, without P!
TO fly = fliegen
A fly = Fliege
flies = Fliegen (pl.)
"Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach."
Nothing to do with your picture, but er, any news of Cabin Pressure 4???
Getting withdrawal symptoms.....
I live down the road from a buffalo farm. They sell Buffalo meat. Buffalo kind of tastes like beef, but grainier. Still quite tasty, though.
And that is neat that buffalo can be used as a replacement for the verb "to bully." Although I wonder what people will say when I start telling them about how severely I was buffaloed in high school...
In Japanese, "Niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru" means "in the garden, there are four chickens." Or was that Ni wa niwa ni wa niwatori ga iru....?
Checking this blog is like my daily advent calendar window!
I vote that you found a city called Finnemore and we establish the word "to finnemore" as slang for 'not being able to successfully juggle [something] whilst sober' (or something like that) and then hire someone to make a huge and funny sentence out of it.
Am I the only one who sees a bison?
Where'd you go? Been refreshing all day waiting for "Thing 4" to appear for December 4th.
If you're late 'cause you're working on scripts for Cabin Pressure Season 4 then carry on!
Foul fowl foul fowl foul foul foul fowl.
Okay, there is 'almost' a cow ;)
In Japan there is such a tongue twister:
Hashimoto hashi no hashi hashi hashiru, which means that Hashimoto is running ond the edge of the bridge made of chopsticks :D
Don't tempt me to quote Polish tongue twisters...
Well done on the award for best comedy quite right and proper too. Re: sketches brill!!! I can't even draw stick men straight (pun very much intended) as a side bar can I ask is there going to be a Xmas special of CP and/ or another series am seriously deprived of laughs....
Deb
No 'advent calendar' yesterday! You'll have to do a forfeit. How about a sketch of Hay on Wye. If not - hey, why no Hay on Wye, why, hey?
I want to shout 'bison' as a reference to something but I can't work out what the something is. Hmm.
Also, I practically squealed with delight when I saw five - FIVE!! - unread posts on your blog in Google Reader. Such a treat. Then to discover that you intend to post daily for a while made me even happier - something extra to keep my spirits up whilst slogging through tedious job application forms :)
I can quote some polish ones! ;)
Like "W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie" :P It means: In the city of Szczebrzeszyn (got ya!) a beetle buzzes in a reed"
Or hindi one: "Chandu ke chache ne, chandu ki chachi ko, chandni chauk mein, chandni raat mein, chandi ki chamchi se chutney chatayi"
It means: "Chandu's {paternal} uncle gave a taste of chutney with a silver spoon under moonlight in Chandni Chowk to Chandu's {paternal} aunt".
Yes, Bison Bill, it is definitely a bison. As everyone knows, there is a clear difference between a bison and a buffalo. You can't wash your hands in a buffalo. (Sorry).
As the croco-pie once said "Polly wants a bison!"
In France, they have a lovely tale of reciprocal brotherly shaving...
"Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton tond ton tonton"
'Tonton' is an affectionate word for an uncle, rather like 'daddy' would be for fathers, so the sentence reads:
"If your [first] uncle shaves your [second] uncle, your [second] uncle shaves your [first] uncle"
... and in fact, now that I think about it, there is one that I remember (I had to look it up to check) in English with 21 of the same word in a row.
Ahem.
"In the sentence 'Should my Fish and Chip shop sign have a hyphen between Fish and And and And and Chips?', it would be clearer to have written quotation marks before the Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, and after Chips"
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