What’s Wrong with the World

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What’s Wrong with the World is dedicated to the defense of what remains of Christendom, the civilization made by the men of the Cross of Christ. Athwart two hostile Powers we stand: the Jihad and Liberalism...read more

Just for fun--Never try to buffalo a Buffalo buffalo

And now, for something completely different: Courtesy of the Lighten Up Brigade (aka my friend Eric V.), I give you the following grammatically correct English sentence:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

This is properly paraphrased as

Bison from the city of Buffalo who are bullied by other bison from the city of Buffalo in turn bully yet other bison from the city of Buffalo.

Mentally supplying the word 'whom' or 'that' between the second and third occurrences of 'buffalo' helps a lot. Yet the sentence is correct without that word, as when the word 'that' is left out of the phrase "games people play."

Now, didn't you always want to know that?

Cross-posted at Extra Thoughts

Comments (10)

My brain hurts.

And next time you're feeling blue:

Smurf smurf smurf.

Finally, I have experienced the mystic transformation. But what would PETA say about the bullying?

As long as the buffalo are bullying one another, PETA has no problem with it. :-) They also don't try to stop lions from devouring prey animals.

Given PETA's materialist conception of mankind, on what basis are we to be held to a higher standard of behavior than any other ape (or buffalo)? Ultimately, it seems that everything we may do, including carnivorous activity, would be excusable as animals being themselves, doing what came naturally, unless one believes that mankind differs in nature and not merely in accidents. I remember a conversation, admittedly unfruitful, with a naugahyde-wearing partisan. Does PETA even feel it necessary to explore the foundations of their imperatives, or is mere feeling enough? She certainly inclined toward the latter.

But what would PETA say about the bullying?

PETA might kill the buffalo: http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Interesting point, Scott.
So, PETA = Purposely Eliminating Tame Animals

Here are some easier ones that might help people get in the right frame of mind:

Dogs dogs dog dog dogs.

Badgers badgers badger badger badgers.

Actually, sentences like this can be pyramided indefinitely. Take

Fish fish fish fish fish.

(i.e., Fish [that] fish fish [themselves] fish fish.)

You can substitute "fish fish fish" (that is, "fish [that] fish fish") for the second and fifth instances of "fish" to get

Fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish,

which actually parses. And so on, until you go stark staring mad.

Great post, I favorited your blog post so I can visit again in the near future, Cheers, Lilia Romar

Fences fences fence fence fences.
Houses houses house house houses.
Stones stones stone stone stones.
Nurses nurses nurse nurse nurses.
Walls walls wall wall walls.
Conkers conkers conk conk conkers.

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