Buffalo buffalo buffalo??One-word sentences and how they work

“布法羅水牛被欺負”? ?單個詞組句的原理

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You may think you know the words that sit plainly in black on your page,

but don't be fooled.

Some words are capable of taking on different guises,

masquerading as nouns, verbs and adjectives

that alter their meanings entirely.

This seeming superpower is called lexical ambiguity.

It can turn words and sentences into mazes that mess with our minds.

你也許認為你知道你紙上清晰的黑字是什么意思

但不要被騙了

有些字能夠換上不一樣的面孔

偽裝成名詞、動詞和形容詞

就能完全改變他們的意思

這種看似強大的能力叫做詞匯歧義

它可以將單詞和句子變成讓我們頭腦混亂的迷宮

For example, consider the following:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

That may sound like nonsense,

but it's actually a grammatically ?correct sentence.

How? Well, Buffalo is proper noun, a noun, and a verb.

It refers to an animal ?also known as a bison,

an American city,

and it can also mean to bully.

These different interpretations create a sequence of words

that is grammatically ?correct as it stands,

though it helps to add in ?a few implied phrases

and punctuation marks to reveal what's really going on.

比如說，思考一下這句話：

水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛

這聽起來就像胡言亂語

但這其實是一句語法正確的句子

怎么會呢？因為英文的“水?！笔且粋€專有名詞，一個名詞和一個動詞

它代指一種又叫做野牛的動物

又代指美國城市布法羅

也能表示動詞欺負

這些不同的解釋創(chuàng)造出了一連串詞

按這種樣子是語法正確的

加上隱含短語及標點

能夠更好地理解其真實含義

Buffalo buffalo are bison ?from the city of Buffalo,

and this sentence ?has three groups of them.

Group A, which is bullied by Group B, bullies Group C.

In other words, bison from Buffalo that other bison from Buffalo bully

also bully bison from Buffalo.

If you let each buffalo perform its role, the meaning becomes apparent.

“水牛水?！敝傅氖遣挤_的水牛

這個搭配在句中出現(xiàn)了三遍

被第二組欺負的第一組欺負第三組

也就是說，被一群布法羅水牛欺負的布法羅水牛

欺負另外一群布法羅水牛

如果你讓每個“水牛”發(fā)揮它的角色，句意就很明了了

What if the bunch of bullying buffalo decides to cross the ocean?

Not just on any ship,

but a ship-shipping ship ?shipping shipping-ships?

That sentence sounds just as outrageous, but there's logic to the babble.

Ship can mean a vessel and to transport.

When we sub in those meanings, a clearer picture emerges.

Here we have a huge ship-carrying vessel

transporting ships that themselves are designed to carry goods across the sea.

A ship-shipping ship, ?shipping shipping-ships.

要是這群惡霸水牛決定漂洋過海呢？

不是一艘普通的船

而是一條運船的船運航船呢？

這句話聽起來同樣無法理解，但看似胡言亂語其實也有邏輯

“船”可以指船舶和運輸

當我們把這些意思代進去，一幅清晰的畫面就顯現(xiàn)出來了

我們有一條巨大的運船的輪船

它運輸那些被設計用來跨洋運輸貨物的船

那么它就是一條運船的船運航船

How about some entertainment on board this unusual vessel

to offset the scuffling buffalo?

Consider the can-can.

Can-can can-can can can can can can-can.

Here, the word can comes in many guises.

There's can-can, the flamboyant dance,

can, that means able to,

and can, figuratively ?meaning to outperform.

By sticking in a comma and including the implied meanings,

this sentence becomes clearer.

Can-can dances that can-can dances are able to outperform,

can also outperform other can-can dances.

要不要在這條非同尋常的船上找點有意思的東西

來彌補亂斗的水牛帶來的不快呢？

想想“可以可以”

“可以可以”“可以可以”可以可以可以可以“可以可以”

這里，“可以”這個詞以各種偽裝出現(xiàn)

“可以可以”，是指康康舞，一種浮夸的舞蹈

“可以”，意思是能夠

在比喻意義上說，還可以指超過

通過加上一個逗號，并且考慮到暗指意

這個句子就清楚一些了

被另一種康康舞超過的康康舞

能夠超過其他的康康舞

You wouldn't necessarily use any of these sentences in a conversation.

They're just too ridiculous.

Yet they serve as an extreme example

on just how tangled ?everyday language can be.

Lexical ambiguities sail into our speech and writing all the time,

spreading confusion and misunderstanding wherever they can-can.

你在對話中未必會用到任何這些句子

它們都太荒謬了

但它們可以作為一種極端的例子

來表現(xiàn)日常語言可以有多么復雜

詞匯歧義總是出現(xiàn)在我們的講話和寫作之中

造成困惑和誤解，只要它們可以-可以