F*&% and Buffalo - from @kinglefty27 - not for the linguistically sensitive.

For years, I've been using the old standby:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

To make various points about syntax. (If you're not aware of the standard example: 'buffalo' is a verb that means to 'bluff aggressively'. The subject of the sentence is 'buffalo,' referring to the creatures. Those creatures are then from the city of Buffalo, thus being 'Buffalo buffalo' who bluff other Buffalo buffalo aggressively).

A few years ago, I noticed (unoriginally) that 'buffalo' is also used as an adjective to refer to a certain kind of spicey sauce, as in 'buffalo chicken' or 'buffalo wild wings'. Thus, if one could spice buffalo from Buffalo and then let them buffalo other similarly spiced Buffalo buffalo, one could say:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

And for years, I've been mentioning in class that there is another well-known english word that is used as all the parts of speech, including (unlike 'buffalo') as an interjection.  I leave it up to the imaginations of the students to figure out a 7-word sentence using that word (which takes -ing and -ed to operate as an adjective or adverb). Today, Ben Andres, 3rd year Phil major, created an 11-word sentence based on F--- that I believe grammatically correct. Here it is:

F--k! F--king f--ked F--king f--king f--king f--ks f--king f--ked F--king f--king.

To explain: 'f--ks' is the verb (6th word in).The action is itself a f--king instance of a f--k, and hence has the adverb 'f--king'.

The subject of the sentence is, itself, and act of f--king: i.e. the 4th 'f--king' after the exclamation point is the noun. That instance of 'f--king' is from the town of F--king, Austria (the 3rd 'F--king'), has been itself 'f--ked' in the past (the 2nd word), and is itself described a 'F--king' instance of such an act (the 1st 'F--king'). The whole subject phrase then is replicated as the object of the subject's action.

You may quibble that the interjection is a 1 word sentence that stands on its own. Fair enough: still, a 10-word sentence is quite a fucking achievement.

 

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