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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

1125.0. "Entend any doubles lately ?" by PEKING::SULLIVAND (Free the Heinz 57 !) Wed Dec 21 1994 06:18

    It occurs to me that some sentences can have two completely different
    meanings, e.g.:
    
    "He is pressing his suit"
    
    can mean that a) he is ironing the creases out of (or into) his
    apparel, or that b) he is attempting to become better acquainted with a
    young lady, with a view to matrimony.
    
    Any others ?
    
    How about "reproduction furniture". Is that new furniture made to look
    like old, or is it the honeymoon bed ? (Tee hee)  :-)
    
    Is a winning streak the result of a successful run of gambling or is it
    an announcement of the winner of a nudist race ?
    
     
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1125.1There are many examples from the psycholinguistic lit'rature...LJSRV2::KALIKOWSERVE<a href="SURF_GLOBAL">LOCAL</a>Wed Dec 21 1994 07:469
    "Time flies like an arrow"
    
    the next, when the last two words are run together when spoken quickly:
    
    "They're looking for a light housekeeper."
    
    Those who have studied Chomsky & Lenneberg & their disciples more
    recently than I can surely supply more...
    
1125.2PASTIS::MONAHANhumanity is a trojan horseWed Dec 21 1994 08:429
    	I thought it was "Fruit flies like a banana" which has one meaning
    in the context of the winged seeds of the sycamore tree, and a
    different meaning in the context of the dietary preferences of insects.
    
    	There was a young man from from Hong Kong
    	Who cleared the whole place with his song.
    		It wasn't the words
    		That frightened the birds
    	But the horrible double ontong!
1125.3An example of good tasteSTKAI1::T_ANDERSSONThe Tank EngineWed Dec 21 1994 09:005
    The following line from "The Silence of the Lambs" is well known:
    
    	"I'd love to have you for dinner sometime."
    
    Hannibal "the cannibal" Lecter to Agent Starling (I think).  
1125.4You thought it couldn't get any worse...PEKING::SULLIVANDFree the Heinz 57 !Wed Dec 21 1994 09:0618
    I'm reminded of the science fiction story about the idealistic aliens
    who produce a book called "How to serve man"...
    
    
    
    Unfortunately it's a cookbook...
    
    And then, as one of my colleagues once remarked
    
    "Tits like coconuts!!"
    
    
    
    But sparrows will eat anything!
    
    
    Plenty of shops here in England have "Family Butcher" on them...
    
1125.5NOTIME::SACKSGerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085Wed Dec 21 1994 10:237
>    "He is pressing his suit"
>    
>    can mean that a) he is ironing the creases out of (or into) his
>    apparel, or that b) he is attempting to become better acquainted with a
>    young lady, with a view to matrimony.

c) he is a plaintiff.
1125.6He broke the window...PMRV70::BEAIRSTOTue Dec 27 1994 15:472
    ...with his little sister
    
1125.7NOVA::FISHERnow |a|n|a|l|o|g|Wed Dec 28 1994 03:058
    I chuckle everytime I hear the Cumberland Farms ad that tells you
    that they are a good place to stop and get a cup of coffee on the way
    to work.  "the stop that keeps you going."
    
    Given the diuretic nature of caffeine, I chuckle at the double meaning.
    Of course, if you also buy gas at CF, there's a triple meaning.
    
    ed
1125.8JRDV04::DIAMONDsegmentation fault (california dumped)Sun Jan 08 1995 20:347
    Title on a recent newspaper article:
    
         "Missing ship radios in safe"
    
    After reading the article, I figured out that "radios" and "safe"
    weren't being used as nouns, and it wasn't attributing the ship's
    disappearance to negligent actions by the crew.
1125.9I boggle, you boggle, he boggles...PEKING::SULLIVANDNot gauche, just sinisterMon Jan 09 1995 04:588
    Sounds like the classic
    
    "Ike flies back to front"
    
    or a headline I saw here in England a few years ago
    
    "Heath appeals to Amin".
    
1125.10There was one in the Wellesley (MA) paper over the weekend...LJSRV2::KALIKOWPentium: Intel's Blew-Chip SpecialMon Jan 09 1995 06:3610
    ... that reminded me of West Side Story -- "Hey honey, do they have a
    gang problem in Wellesley?"
    
                  WELLESLEY DEATH SPURS CALL TO SEAL TRACKS
    
    Turns out that there's been one too many person killed as they try to
    cross the railroad tracks, and community activists, not gang-bangers,
    are trying to alleviate the problem by limiting access to the right-
    of-way... :-)