I didn't come up with this, I'm reposting from this page because it's just too good to leave alone.
Possibly the weirdest sentence in the English language is: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
It takes a bit to understand this, so let's build up from simple stuff. First, suppose that dogs chase cats, who then chase mice. Another way of saying this is:
"Cats that dogs chase, chase mice"
But the comma and the word "that" aren't technically needed, so we can say:
"Cats dogs chase chase mice."
But cats also chase other cats, so we could say:
"Cats dogs chase chase cats."
And they can be chased by other cats too:
"Cats cats chase chase cats."
Step back and look at this sentence for a moment. This is the basic structure of the buffalo sentence. Let's think about buffalo chasing other buffalo:
"Buffalo buffalo chase chase buffalo."
Now there's a lesser-known English verb "to buffalo" meaning "to push around." So instead of chasing, let's make these buffalo push each other around:
"Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo."
Remember that this means:
"Buffalo that buffalo push around, push buffalo around."
For the final step, let's just talk about a particular kind of buffalo - the kind that live in the zoo in Buffalo, New York. These, of course, are Buffalo buffalo - just as the lions are Buffalo lions.
"Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo Buffalo push around, push Buffalo buffalo around"
or more properly:
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
For extra credit, here's a sentence with "and" five times together:
"When you drew that Fish-And-Chips sign, you should have put a hyphen between Fish and And and And and Chips."
Itchy_turd - 10/08/2006 09:21:00 PM
Alright, wrap you mind around this:
Suppose you have three cards:
-a black card that is black on both sides,
-a white card that is white on both sides, and
-a mixed card that is black on one side and white on the other.
You put all of the cards in a hat, pull one out at random, and place it on a table at random. The side facing up is black. What are the odds that the other side is also black?
Chuck - 10/08/2006 09:42:00 PM
Fifty percent chance. Two possibilities exist, that you have the card that is all black, or the card that is white and black.
Alright, same cards, same scenario, what are the odds that you'll pull a camel out of the hat?
Itchy_turd - 10/09/2006 02:25:00 PM
Nope, the answer is 2/3.
There are 3 possible black sides:
1/3- all black card, side #1
1/3- all black card, side #2
1/3- mixed card, black side
So if you are looking at a black side up, there is a 2/3 probability it is the all black card.
As far as your question, I can't give an answer until the question has been clarified (since that seems to be where you are going with it).
Do we want the question to be ammended, such as "the bag is not woven of camel hair and contains no contents besides the 3 cards placed inside" and my answer based upon that?
Chuck - 10/09/2006 07:44:00 PM
I never could grasp statistics.
And I'm mad at you for making me get the wrong answer. So... let's just simplify and say that no matter your answer for the question I pose, you're wrong too. There, I feel better.
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