- Image via Wikipedia
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.”
I’d like to thank my Brother-in-law for sending me this link.
Supposedly it’s correct: I’ll defer to the experts, although I don’t think it makes sense.
It relies on the three meanings of ‘Buffalo:”
- Buffalo- a City in NY
- buffalo- a bison
- buffalo- to bully
So, Everytime you read “Buffalo buffalo,” think “NY Bison” and the extra “buffalo” by itself means bully.
I think “Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” can make sense:”New York bison bully NY bison,” but get lost in the reasoning of the extra clauses without the supporting punctuation and conjunctions.
Which is the point of this post. I’ve been trying to read and edit online works, and I’ve seen a lot recently that are cute, even accomplished, but don’t make a lick of sense. These authors are trying to impress, but they’re doing it by trying to confuse the reader. They’re saying “Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” and expecting me, their reader to be impressed with their wit.
And the get offended when you suggest that maybe “Rochester Bison Bully Albany Yaks” might make more sense. They bristle because they don’t really care about the story. In fact, they are trying to hide the fact that they DON’T have a story. There’s no “there”, there as the saying goes.
Which reminds me that writing isn’t about how cool I am, it’s about communicating to an audience. Which is a lot cooler than “Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo”
BTW- Falling behind. Doing backstory, but the draft is progressing at about 300 words a day. Need a big couple of days to get caught up.
