Fun_People Archive
21 Apr
Bison bison novoeboracensis

Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 13:51:32 PDT
To: Fun_People
Subject: Bison bison novoeboracensis

Forwarded-by: Matthew Freedman <mattf@cac.washington.edu>

This is from my friend Dan, the former dictionary editor, now in Bishkek, 
Kyrghyztan, with e-mail access and too much time on his hands...

From: Daniel Prior <shiva@cct.bishkek.su>


--yes, but, if, were one to say, New York State bison
themselves liked to kid the VERY New York State bison which
the formerly named bison liked to kid, you get the symmetrical
and tautological and longer (the latter=better in this case):

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

AND! If some New York State bison were descended autochthonously,
i.e. from ancestors residing in the same place, and futhermore
if one wanted to draw a distinction between autochthonous
Buffalo buffalo (i.e. Buffalo Buffalo buffalo) and those
Buffalo buffalo which were descended from, say, Schenectady
buffalo (i.e. Schenectady Buffalo buffalo)--and, furthermoster,
if a distinction likewise needed to be drawn between the auto-
chthonous Buffalo buffalo PER SE--in relation to their most
recent ancestors (i.e. the Buffalo *buffalo* Buffalo buffalo) and the
Buffalo buffalo who liked to identify themselves with their
anterior lineage (say, the Buffalo aurochs Buffalo buffalo),
and, furthestmorethemost-of-all, if you cared to be buffaloed,
the sentence would be:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

OK, I really do have a life, but ONE MORE:

If a portion of the population of said autochthonous Buffalo buffalo
were to have migrated to, say, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, leaving
only a portion behind in their homeland, the buffalo in the old country
would NOT be King of Prussia Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo, they would
be....and we would have...:

Buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo Buffalo
buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.
______________________________________________________________________________

[For those of you who, like me, find these just slightly confusing, the
following augmented sentences may prove illuminating:

The Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo sometimes buffalo have been known to
buffalo the very Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo like to buffalo.

Whew!  But it gets worse...

The Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo
buffalo often buffalo in turn like to buffalo the Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo
buffalo that Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo sometimes buffalo.

And worse...

The Buffalo-resident Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo-resident
Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo sometimes buffalo are known to buffalo the
Buffalo-resident Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo-resident
Buffalo buffalo-bred Buffalo buffalo often buffalo.

Hmmm... Well, it made it easier for me, anyway.  -psl]

© 1994 Peter Langston