Buffalo buffalo buffalo  One-word sentences and how they work

“布法罗水牛被欺负”   单个词组句的原理

来源视频

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.

你也许认为你知道你纸上清晰的黑字是什么意思

但不要被骗了

有些字能够换上不一样的面孔

伪装成名词、动词和形容词

就能完全改变他们的意思

这种看似强大的能力叫做词汇歧义

它可以将单词和句子变成让我们头脑混乱的迷宫

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.

比如说，思考一下这句话：

水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛水牛

这听起来就像胡言乱语

但这其实是一句语法正确的句子

怎么会呢？因为英文的“水牛”是一个专有名词，一个名词和一个动词

它代指一种又叫做野牛的动物

又代指美国城市布法罗

也能表示动词欺负

这些不同的解释创造出了一连串词

按这种样子是语法正确的

加上隐含短语及标点

能够更好地理解其真实含义

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.

“水牛水牛”指的是布法罗的水牛

这个搭配在句中出现了三遍

被第二组欺负的第一组欺负第三组

也就是说，被一群布法罗水牛欺负的布法罗水牛

欺负另外一群布法罗水牛

如果你让每个“水牛”发挥它的角色，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.

要是这群恶霸水牛决定漂洋过海呢？

不是一艘普通的船

而是一条运船的船运航船呢？

这句话听起来同样无法理解，但看似胡言乱语其实也有逻辑

“船”可以指船舶和运输

当我们把这些意思代进去，一幅清晰的画面就显现出来了

我们有一条巨大的运船的轮船

它运输那些被设计用来跨洋运输货物的船

那么它就是一条运船的船运航船

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.

要不要在这条非同寻常的船上找点有意思的东西

来弥补乱斗的水牛带来的不快呢？

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”

这里，“可以”这个词以各种伪装出现

“可以可以”，是指康康舞，一种浮夸的舞蹈

“可以”，意思是能够

在比喻意义上说，还可以指超过

通过加上一个逗号，并且考虑到暗指意

这个句子就清楚一些了

被另一种康康舞超过的康康舞

能够超过其他的康康舞

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.

你在对话中未必会用到任何这些句子

它们都太荒谬了

但它们可以作为一种极端的例子

来表现日常语言可以有多么复杂

词汇歧义总是出现在我们的讲话和写作之中

造成困惑和误解，只要它们可以-可以