Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

I don’t have a lot to say about the title of this post. It caught me off guard and I just had to share it.

This might help explain it.

The sentence’s meaning becomes clearer when it’s understood that it uses the city of Buffalo, New York, and the somewhat-uncommon verb “to buffalo” (meaning “to bully or intimidate”), and when the punctuation and grammar is expanded so that the sentence reads as follows: “Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” The meaning becomes even clearer when synonyms are used: “Buffalo bison that other Buffalo bison bully, themselves bully Buffalo bison.”

You can read a LOT more about this very strange sentence at wikipedia.

And while we are at it, have a look at this one.

A somewhat similar non-punctuated example is “James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher“. This could concern a situation in an English class regarding the usage of the word had, and might be punctuated as, “James, while John had had ‘had’, had had ‘had had’; ‘had had’ had had a better effect on the teacher.”

Do these really make sense to anyone?

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