Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo is a sentence that uses correct grammar.
It is often used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create confusing, hard-to-understand sentences.
It has been talked about since 1967, when the sentence was used by Dmitri Borgmann in his book Beyond Language. Later, in 1972, the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport. Rapaport is a professor at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.
The sentence does not have punctuation. It uses three different meanings of the word "buffalo". They are:
It can be broken down to "Buffaloa buffalon Buffaloa buffalon buffalov buffalov Buffaloa buffalon", where "a" is adjective, "n" is noun, and "v" is verb. It means, "Bison from Buffalo, which other bison from Buffalo confuse, confuse the bison from Buffalo."
Other words can be used to make sentences like this one. These include police, fish, and people. For example, "Fish fish fish fish fish". Other times, similar words that are spelled differently can be used: "Foul fowl foul fowl foul foul foul fowl".
There is a city named Police in Poland. It is therefore possible to form a sentence "Police police Police police police police Police police", meaning "Cops from Police, whom other policemen from Police, Poland, are watching, watch yet other cops from Police, Poland".
The sentence is very confusing because:
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