Buffalo buffalo

Had to hit the internet for some visual inspiration today. I don't know why I loved this animated gif so hard, but I do. Headline for the post where I scavenged the attached picture is 'sad bookshelf is sad', which made me laugh. (Notice how they had to put the encyclopedias at the bottom so it didn't tip over?)

Been a tough week in blogville. Not much going on. Usually I could hammer out something pithy about current events or my gym schedule but I don't have anything really good, so I'll dig into the email mailbag for a word problem I kicked over to my word-minded peeps.

The following is a famous linguistics exercise. It's also a grammatically correct, complete sentence:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

I asked friend Jeff if he had come across it in his studies and he said yes, but he can't teach it in his classes because his students would just get more confused. English is hard. Sentence is easier to parse if you read it as 'place animal (verb) place animal'. So: buffalo from Buffalo push buffalo from Buffalo.

I got the sentence from a Steven Pinker book about language. I forget which one. He references its source as an associate of his. So, credit where credit is due: check the book for the actual source. I would look it up but my books are in boxes in the garage. :/

In New Addictions I finally beat Skott in a furious battle of wits on the virtual scrabble board. By one point. He's up two game two one after delivering a spanking in game two. I had to withdraw in game 3 because I played a word I thought was illegal. Turns out it wasn't, but that's my fault for not knowing (word was jesuit, if you must know, and yes, the lower case usage is accepted, which is why it wasn't illegal). If you've got an ipod touch or iphone and want to go head to head with a very mediocre player then hit me up. LET'S DO THIS. My words with friends name is Dooshie McTool. All my usual videogame and forum names were taken. Which sucked.