Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

I know what you’re thinking: Clarence has gone crazy. He’s sitting in his cubicle at work, rocking back and forth, mumbling nothing but Buffalo, buffalo, Buffalo…

Well, you’re wrong! Actually, I’m making perfect sense. The sentence, “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” is perfectly gramatically valid. Let’s review:

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

1. The city of Buffalo, New York.
2. The animal “buffalo“, in the plural (equivalent to “buffaloes”), in order to avoid articles.
3. The verb “buffalo”, meaning to confuse, deceive, or intimidate

Marking each “buffalo” with its use as numbered above gives:

Buffalo¹ buffalo² Buffalo¹ buffalo² buffalo³ buffalo³ Buffalo¹ buffalo².Thus, the sentence turns into a description of the pecking order in the social hierarchy of buffaloes from the Buffalo zoo:

[Some] buffalo(es) from Buffalo [that] buffalo(es) from Buffalo intimidate [themselves] intimidate [other] buffalo(es) [from] Buffalo.

Other examples of wacky sentences:

• Badgers badgers badger badger badgers.
• Dogs dogs dog dog dogs.
• Who polices the police? - The police police. So, who polices the police police? Police police police police police police.
• The last boss she had had had had enough of her.
• That that that that had been had been that that that had been had been unexpected.

Ok. Now I’m confused. I think I’m going to go rock back and forth while mumbling, “Buffalo, buffalo, buffalo…”

via Wikipedia

Tagged: Buffalo, Badgers, Dogs, the English language