And apparently we can discuss some other harrowing examples of English, like:
" Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo "
3 Likes
I was thinking about this and you could add at least 3 more buffalo without being ungrammatical.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.
Bison from upstate New York who are tormented by other beasts from that same place, themselves torment a different group of bison from the City of Trees who are likewise tormented by other prairie bovines also from the home of spicy wings.
2 Likes
128 meanings?
3 Likes
In pragmatic terms (there it is again!) I don’t think you could get nearly that many – at least in terms of treating emphasis as a simple binary.
For one thing, everything-emphasized would be equivalent to nothing emphasized. But in addition, some of the shades of meaning are subsumed by the others (this relates to @Ratel’s observation in his poll that some of the shades of meaning seem the same – which i think isn’t quite right; see below).
For example, it you emphasize “never”, you’re saying “I did not make this utterance in any form!”. But if you emphasize “I”, you are saying, “It was not I who uttered this, but someone else!” By emphasizing “I” you’ve basically covered the bases for having emphasized “never”. Then there’s the additional practical fact that (related to my observation about “all-emphasized”) that emphasis no longer offers meaningful distinguishment when you’ve got too many things emphasized. At a guess I’d speculate that you couldn’t emphasize more than four words or so without the distinction of emphasis losing its power.
I bet a patient linguistic philosopher could work out what those interconnections are and get some kind of reasonable count.
2 Likes
I also think that the emphasis on a certain word can mean multiple things depending on contextual factors, such that each word can have multiple meanings if emphasized depending on what it is responding to or leading up to.
For example, “I never said she ate my sandwich.” can mean “I said no such thing, and I resent the insinuation that I did.” Or, it can mean, “I knew that she had eaten my sandwich, but I at no point told anyone this.”
Or, “I never said she ate my sandwich” can mean “She was the one who accused me of eating her sandwich” or “There was a rumor to the effect that somebody had eaten my sandwich, but I did not start the rumor, and the rumor was not about her.”
If you want to, you can view and interpret words to mean all kinds of things.
“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” - Cardinal Richelieu
4 Likes
From Gravity’s Rainbow:
(1) A letter is sent from Slothrop (at the address “TDY Abreaction Ward, St. Veronica’s Hospital”) to “The Kenosha Kid, General Delivery, Kenosha, Wisconsin”, asking “Did I ever bother you, ever, for anything, in your life?” The answer comes back
You never did.
The Kenosha Kid
(2) Smartass youth: Aw, did all them old-fashioned dances, I did the “Charleston”, a-and the “Big Apple,” too!
Old veteran hoofer: Bet you never did the “Kenosha,” kid!
(2.1) S.Y.: Shucks, I did all them dances, I did the “Castle Walk,” and I did the “Lindy,” too!
O.V.H.: Bet you never did the “Kenosha Kid.”
(3) Minor employee: Well, he has been avoiding me, and I thought it might be because of the Slothrop Affair. If he somehow held me responsible —
Superior (haughtily): You! never did the Kenosha Kid think for one instant that you …
(3.1) Superior (incredulously): You? Never! Did the Kenosha Kid think for one instant that you … ?
(4) And at the end of the mighty day in which he gave us in fiery letters across the sky all the words we’d ever need, words we enjoy today, and fill our dictionaries with, the meek voice of little Tyrone Slothrop, celebrated ever after in tradition and song, ventured to filter upward to the Kid’s attention: “You never did ‘the,’ Kenosha Kid!”
(5) Maybe you did fool the Philadelphia, rag the Rochester, josh the Joliet. But you never did the Kenosha kid.
(6) (The day of the Ascent and sacrifice. A nation-wide observance. Fats searing, blood dripping and burning to a salty brown … ) You did the Charlottesville shoat, check, the Forest Hills foal, check. (Fading now … ) The Laredo lamb, check. Oh-oh. Wait. What’s this, Slothrop? You never did the Kenosha kid. Snap to, Slothrop.
3 Likes
I recall seeing this demonstrated years ago with the sentence “I didn’t ask for the anal probe”.
2 Likes
Last word too.
1 Like
We are getting dangerously close to ‘four candles’ territory.
3 Likes
Yeah, but once ya turn forty…
This kind of thing is my bread and butter
There were wildcards at the end and beginning of the quote when I posted it. looks like they disappeared. The wiki article has them…
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
