hani_backup | A cool sentence and Neil Gaiman + Amanda Palmer (Reply)

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs.

Sentence construction

The sentence is unpunctuated and uses three different readings of the word "buffalo". In order of their first use, these are

a. the city of Buffalo, New York (or any other place named "Buffalo"), which is used as an adjective in the sentence and is followed by the animal;
n. the noun buffalo, an animal, in the plural (equivalent to "buffaloes" or "buffalos"), in order to avoid articles;
v. the verb "buffalo" meaning to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.

Marking each "buffalo" with its use as shown above gives

Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ buffalo^v buffalo^v Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ.

Thus, the sentence when parsed reads as a description of the pecking order in the social hierarchy of buffaloes living in Buffalo:

[Those] (Buffalo buffalo) [whom] (Buffalo buffalo) buffalo, buffalo (Buffalo buffalo).

[Those] buffalo(es) from Buffalo [that are intimidated by] buffalo(es) from Buffalo intimidate buffalo(es) from Buffalo.

Bison from Buffalo, New York, who are intimidated by other bison in their community also happen to intimidate other bison in their community.

THE buffalo FROM Buffalo WHO ARE buffaloed BY buffalo FROM Buffalo ALSO buffalo THE buffalo FROM Buffalo.

"Buffalo buffalo (subject) [which the] Buffalo buffalo (Indirect object) buffalo [verb] buffalo [another verb] Buffalo buffalo [Direct Object]. [Noun], (which the) [Noun verb] [verb] [noun].

It may be revealing to read the sentence replacing all instances of the animal buffalo with "people" and the verb buffalo with "intimidate". The sentence then reads

"Buffalo people [whom] Buffalo people intimidate [also happen to] intimidate Buffalo people."

Preserving the meaning more closely, substituting the synonym "bison" for "buffalo" (animal), "bully" for "buffalo" (verb) and leaving "Buffalo" to mean the city, yields

'Buffalo bison Buffalo bison bully bully Buffalo bison', or:

'Buffalo bison whom other Buffalo bison bully themselves bully Buffalo bison'.

To further understand the structure of the sentence, one can replace "Buffalo buffalo" with any number of noun phrases. Rather than referring to "Buffalo buffalo" intimidating other "Buffalo buffalo", one can use noun phrases like "Alley cats", "Junkyard dogs", and "Sewer rats". The sentence then reads

"Alley cats [whom] Junkyard dogs intimidate [also happen to] intimidate Sewer rats."

This has the same sentence structure as 'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo'.

[edit] Ambiguity

If the capitalization is ignored, the sentence can be read another way:

Buffalo^c buffalo^a buffalo^v Buffalo^c buffalo^a Buffalo^c buffalo^a buffalo^v.

That is, bison from Buffalo intimidate (other) bison from Buffalo that are intimidated by bison from Buffalo.

And thanks to Neil's blog and Amanda's blog, I now know they're dating. What Amanda had to say really made me go awwwwww.

But still... A bit of me is feeling like how I felt when I found out Jessica Alba got pregnant, then married. A good-natured, mock feeling of betrayal. :P

Me: So Neil Gaiman + Amanda Palmer... I don't know whether to be depressed or ecstatic..
Matt: The answer is to be decstaticpressed.
Me: I mean, it's great for them, happy for them but... pouts It's like Alba getting pregnant and married!!! BETRAYAL.
Me: By the way, love, "destaticpressed" sounds like "de-static-pressed" which reminds me of laundry...
Matt: hmmm... how about ecdestatpressiced?
Me: ... o_O Is that pronounced "ec-de-stat-press-iced" as in water frozen that last syllable? or "pres-siced" like siccing a dog?

I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounced that second words of his. It's pretty neat; I can text message American numbers from my GMail inbox by enabling a new lab of theirs!

I'm still cranky. >:-(