"Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo..." explained.

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pirate_republic

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#1  Edited By pirate_republic
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Serker

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#2  Edited By Serker

OK?

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Coltonio7

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#3  Edited By Coltonio7
Let me just post your blog in the Forum Topic...which...this makes no sense. Anyways,

*I know this is old... if you understand is already, then go away. Skeptics, however, read on.*

Many of you think that the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is not a grammatically correct sentence. It is. The goal of this blog post is for you to understand it, as it actually does make sense.

Here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

I'll start off with explaining "fish fish fish fish fish". It's the same idea as the buffalo sentence, but more simple.

Now, I'll add in optional words to make it more legible: "fish, that fish fish, fish for fish." You don't actually need those extra words for it to be grammatically correct.

That's the noun "fish", and the verb "fish" (the act of fishing for fish) mixed together, in this fashion: "noun, (that) noun verb, verb (for) noun". In other words, fish (identifier) that fish go fishing for, are currently fishing. Get it? Read this again until you understand it, as I'm moving on.

Now that you understand that, let's move on to the buffalo sentence. It works the same way, combining these:
The noun: buffalo (animal)
The noun: Buffalo (city)
The verb: to bully (not commonly heard)

I'll start off by adding in extra words: Buffalo buffalo, that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Next, I'll switch out words for other meanings: bison from Buffalo, that bison from Buffalo bully, bully bison from Buffalo. In other words, the bison that bison bully, also bully bison. Get it?

The sentence uses "Buffalo" the city as an adjective. If we were talking about Joe from Canada, I could technically say Canada Joe, using Canada as an adjective for describing where Joe lives. Same thing the buffalo: Buffalo (city) buffalo (animal) means bison from buffalo.

For the order or nouns/verbs, it goes: noun (city) noun (animal),  that noun( city) noun (animal) verb, verb noun (city) noun (animal)

Here it is again: {bison from buffalo} that {bison from buffalo} bully, also happen to bully {bison from buffalo}
{Buffalo buffalo}, that {Buffalo buffalo} bully, bully {Buffalo buffalo}
Buffalo buffalo, that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo (you don't need the extra words)

I hope this made sense, and I hope you actually took the time to try to understand this. If you didn't, read this again slowly, or post your questions. It's not practical at all, it's merely a tool used to show how complex English really is.

Good day to you all.
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Jayge_

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#4  Edited By Jayge_

I de-railed an entire math class for 30 whole minutes with this exact conundrum.


It was awesome.
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pirate_republic

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#5  Edited By pirate_republic
Jayge said:
"I de-railed an entire math class for 30 whole minutes with this exact conundrum.

It was awesome.
"
Same story with me... except it was social. Ah well, time enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.
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fr0br0

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#6  Edited By fr0br0

My mind has just expanded into a different dimension.

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pirate_republic

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#7  Edited By pirate_republic
Fr0Br0 said:
"My mind has just expanded into a different dimension."
The same thing happened to me when I discovered there was an arrow in the FedEx logo... should probably post a guide on that too.
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DanielJW

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#8  Edited By DanielJW
Fr0Br0 said:
"My mind has just expanded into a different dimension."
Welcome to the meat dimension.
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fr0br0

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#9  Edited By fr0br0
pirate_republic said:
"Fr0Br0 said:
"My mind has just expanded into a different dimension."
The same thing happened to me when I discovered there was an arrow in the FedEx logo... should probably post a guide on that too."
I got to check this out...

EDIT: Holy shit! What has been seen can not be unseen.
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pirate_republic

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#10  Edited By pirate_republic
Fr0Br0 said:
"pirate_republic said:
"Fr0Br0 said:
"My mind has just expanded into a different dimension."
The same thing happened to me when I discovered there was an arrow in the FedEx logo... should probably post a guide on that too."
I got to check this out...EDIT: Holy shit! What has been seen can not be unseen."
lol
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maxszy

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#11  Edited By maxszy

What a troll! With a hidden message to drive people to your blog! Nice one! :)

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IVIorpheus

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#12  Edited By IVIorpheus

This is the kind of shit that makes people kill others and eat them....

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pirate_republic

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#13  Edited By pirate_republic
Maxszy said:
"What a troll! With a hidden message to drive people to your blog! Nice one! :)"
Muhaha, it's part of my evil plan.
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j_meyer_13

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#14  Edited By j_meyer_13

My head 'sploded... good work. :p

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pirate_republic

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#15  Edited By pirate_republic
j_meyer_13 said:
"My head 'sploded... good work. :p"
That's my job.

Seriously though guys this took me an hour to work out on my own... that was one boring ass social class.
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Gunner

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#16  Edited By Gunner

dude your avatar is awesome.
the sentence still doesnt make sense, it may be grammatically correct, but simply saying that sentence with no context doesn't make any sense.

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pirate_republic

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#17  Edited By pirate_republic
Gunner said:
"dude your avatar is awesome. the sentence still doesnt make sense, it may be grammatically correct, but simply saying that sentence with no context doesn't make any sense. "
It sort of makes sense, in that it's understandable, but otherwise you're right... it's just used as a tool by university professors to explain how the English language can be used to create complex constructs.
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#18  Edited By Hausdog

You can add in extra Buffaloes in there meaning prepared with buffalo sauce to increase the length of the sentence further.   

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#19  Edited By MKHavoc

I read the Wikipedia page after listening to the Bombcast where Brad mentioned it.  I decided to look at the Fed Ex logo since someone mentioned it and never noticed the arrow before.  Now I'll see that every time I look at it.

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StaticFalconar

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#20  Edited By StaticFalconar

So its essentially an infinite loop sentence?

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papercut

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#21  Edited By papercut

I get police police police police more

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#22  Edited By artofwar420

Buff... *psfttt!*
Buff... *psfttt!*

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pirate_republic

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#23  Edited By pirate_republic
StaticFalconar said:
"So its essentially an infinite loop sentence?"
It ends at 8 times... after that it loses it's correctness.
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#24  Edited By thegoldencat7

In a simillar fashion you can also have the sentence;

"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher"

If you add the correct punctuation it makes sense.

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pirate_republic

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#25  Edited By pirate_republic
thegoldencat7 said:
"In a simillar fashion you can also have the sentence;

"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher"If you add the correct punctuation it makes sense."
I'm afraid your going to have to explain that one to me. My head is asploded you see, from trying to figure out the buffalo thing.
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#26  Edited By thegoldencat7

James, while John had had "had" had had "had had", "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

So essentially James wrote "had". John wrote "had had". And the teacher preffered "had had".

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c1337us

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#27  Edited By c1337us

Thats fine. But if you can work it into an everyday conversation without referencing it as an exercise in English you win at life.

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pirate_republic

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#28  Edited By pirate_republic
thegoldencat7 said:
"James, while John had had "had" had had "had had", "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher. So essentially James wrote "had". John wrote "had had". And the teacher preffered "had had"."
*asploded head asplodes again*