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1738
1739

Chinese is hardcore (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by tsxy

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[–]T400 503 points504 points ago

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This is a classic poem and most chinese people would only understand this if they read it, not if they heard it.

[–]Delta-9-THC 219 points220 points ago

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T400 speaks truth. My mom taught me a bunch of these sentences with only "one word" repeated using different tones. Can be very hard to comprehend fully without text, but they're all amusing!

[–]AtticusLynch 291 points292 points ago

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

[–]cowtow 234 points235 points ago

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Buffalo doesn't even look like a real word anymore.

[–]unreal_slim_shady 206 points207 points ago

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Semantic satiation.

[–]fidrildid6 75 points76 points ago

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Oh my god.

This finally has a name.

[–]torode 87 points88 points ago

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This finally has a name.

Coined in 1962

[–]fidrildid6 52 points53 points ago

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By which I meant, "I finally know what this is called", while also trying to express that the fact that it had a name was also news to me, all in as few words as possible.

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        [–][deleted] 62 points63 points ago

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        Semantic satiation.

        [–]anentpunk 76 points77 points ago

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        I choose you!

        [–]foraday 18 points19 points ago

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        Not me. I'm anti-Semantic.

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            [–]MorreQ 17 points18 points ago

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            I know my English is very good and I have certificates to back that up. All I have to say about this is: fuck...this...fuck it!...I'm moving to Sweden!

            [–]Amm0 19 points20 points ago

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            As a native English speaker and English teacher, I have never seen or heard ''Buffalo'' used as a verb.

            [–]DookieDemon 3 points4 points ago

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            I just heard it the other day in a movie. I can't remember, as many movies pass through my skull on a given day. But it isn't terrible rare. Might be more of an Americanism.

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                [–]aschwa5 3 points4 points ago

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                I've gotten so much mileage out of that at parties! You must admit though, the above poem knocks the shit out of this sentence.

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                  [–]a-foreign-dude 115 points116 points ago

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                  The weird thing is that these nuances in language are insanely hard to detect as a non-native speaking grown up. As a speaker of Danish all the shi's sound almost identical to me. But a native speaker of chinese will find it really easy to distinguish between them. However infants can (no matter where they are born) distinguish all the subtle differences in any language up to a certain age where a sort of 'specialisation' occurs. In other words we are universal perceivers until a certain age. I found this immensely exciting when my phonetics professor did a quick course on it.

                  If you are interested you should read some of his publications. They can be found here.

                  [–]molkhal 35 points36 points ago

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                  Holy shi!

                  [–]meractus 30 points31 points ago

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                  We would be able to distinguish between them, but I wouldn't call it easy. And not all Chinese speaking people can pronounce this properly.

                  [–][deleted] 17 points18 points ago

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                  Yeah, my Chinese teacher told us that Chinese people are pretty good at guessing what tone is being said, even if it's not pronounced correctly, since they make pronunciation mistakes all the time too.

                  On second thought, she might just have said that to make us more self-assured...

                  [–]stillalone 45 points46 points ago

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                  Maybe you just didn't hear her right?

                  [–][deleted] 25 points26 points ago

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                  Oh, it's hardly different than English. We use contextual cues to fill in misheard, mispronounced, or slurred words all the time.

                  [–]lidster 5 points6 points ago

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                  As someone with subpar hearing, I find myself guessing what people are saying based on context clues more often than not.

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                            [–]robo_t 67 points68 points ago

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                            The name of the poem is "Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" by 趙元任 Zhao Yuanren.

                            According to wiki and my Chinese linguistics teacher back in university, the poem was written in the early 20th century as both an: 1. argument against the romanization of classical Chinese 2. argument for the romanization of modern vernacular Chinese

                            Writing out classical Chinese often yields results like "shi shi shi shi shi shi shi", thus making it completely uncomprehensible. A few literary movements in the early twentieth century moved Chinese away from using a single syllable per word to having compound words. This language development can actually be credited with helping modernize China and closing the gap between the literary elites and the masses.

                            Example: Classical - 睡 - shui - to sleep Modern - 睡觉 - shui jiao - to sleep

                            Adding a second character clarifies the meaning by adding a verb-noun phrase!

                            [–]tastycakeman 10 points11 points ago

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                            This actually explains certain things, like differences between old and young speakers. Neato.

                            [–]chetlin 2 points3 points ago

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                            That clarifies things like 我睡覺睡得很晚 a little bit, things that sound weird to me still.

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                              [–]wernham 9 points10 points ago

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                              Yes, even to read it, it would be recognized as it's a famous illustration of the language, but not likely to be understood by a reader that is not well versed in classical.

                              The modern day language version of this poem is on wiki. It is still quite the tongue twister but would be comprehensible when heard- where as this classical version, no.

                              A similar cute thing: 四是四，十四是十四，四十是四十 (Sì shì sì, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí) Four is four, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty.

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                                [–]wikipedia-brown 538 points539 points ago

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                                After 15 seconds you start to go insane.

                                [–]Ragnarok2kx 444 points445 points ago

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                                Note attached: I mispronounced the character 矢 as shī, which should be shǐ.

                                I knew something was off about his delivery.

                                [–]ForgettableUsername 108 points109 points ago

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                                Now that you mention it, the poem didn't sound quite right. That must have been it.

                                [–]dejaflu 114 points115 points ago

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                                He clearly shī'd when he should've shǐ'd. Shit.

                                [–]RainbowUnicorns 34 points35 points ago

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                                I guess he's not having a good time.

                                [–]jbh1357 12 points13 points ago

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                                cant french fry when you should pizza

                                [–]Frog_Coins 6 points7 points ago

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                                How I heard those in my head

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                                  [–]chewitt 9 points10 points ago

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                                  Yeah, after he fucked that up I was completely lost.

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                                    [–]cruzweb 133 points134 points ago

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                                    marklar marklar marklar

                                    [–]DrMarklar 28 points29 points ago

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                                    Yes? Can Marklar help your marklar?

                                    [–]supersymond 13 points14 points ago

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                                    *marklar

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                                      [–]penis-butter 63 points64 points ago

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                                      Haha it sounds like the Chinese version of the teacher from Charlie brown.

                                      [–]smiffus 43 points44 points ago*

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                                      are you shi'n me?

                                      [–]puns_with_post 11 points12 points ago

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                                      abshilutely not

                                      [–]ImNorwegian 84 points85 points ago

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                                      The most upvoted comment was pretty funny.

                                      [–]r00x 167 points168 points ago

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                                      For the benefit of the lazy:

                                      "Sounds like he needs a jumper cable"

                                      [–]akebeth 119 points120 points ago

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                                      The second is also funny:

                                      "so maybe pokemon CAN communicate using only their own names..."

                                      [–]y2kerick 86 points87 points ago

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                                      So this is what we've become, reposting youtube's comments

                                      [–]NixonsGhost 23 points24 points ago

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                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rELYuM7QlU

                                      He sounds like a two stroke engine.

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                                        [–]AtticusLynch 76 points77 points ago

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                                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

                                        [–]richardsal14 33 points34 points ago

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                                        Makes sense

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                                          [–]neenybaps 6 points7 points ago

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                                          to me that sounds like a northern irish accent

                                          [–]Switche 16 points17 points ago

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                                          Can anyone confirm this is a true dictation as it's meant to be pronounced, and not just someone mocking it?

                                          [–]Jerg 83 points84 points ago

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                                          (Mandarin-speaker here) Yep that's the intended pronunciation. The poem is used to show how important character accents/tones are for learning Chinese.

                                          [–]civetservescoffee 32 points33 points ago

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                                          I can barely detect the differences. I wish I could, though.

                                          [–]thraxicle 9 points10 points ago

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                                          Actually tones are used in English. Some are approximate to the tones in Mandarin:

                                          Sit (normal) = flat

                                          Sit! (Imperative) = falling tone

                                          Sit? = rising tone

                                          So it's not that difficult to distinguish between someone asking you if you want to sit and someone demanding that you sit.

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                                              [–]baka_toroi 23 points24 points ago

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                                              It is, but take in account that this is classical Chinese. This same story retold in modern Chinese is quite different.

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                                                  [–]You_Only_Live_Once 77 points78 points ago

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                                                  Text if you want to copy it somewhere and listen to someone saying it:

                                                  Shí shì shī shì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

                                                  Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

                                                  Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.

                                                  Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.

                                                  Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.

                                                  Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.

                                                  Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.

                                                  Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.

                                                  Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī.

                                                  Shì shì shì shì.

                                                  [–]t1w 76 points77 points ago

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                                                  google translate auto detects it as irish...

                                                  [–]Jerg 73 points74 points ago

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                                                  That's because real Chinese is in Chinese characters, this is just the pinyin pronunciation in Latin alphabet.

                                                  [–]BigLlamasHouse 29 points30 points ago

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                                                  I read it to the tone of Danny Boy

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                                                    [–]zeekar 20 points21 points ago

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                                                    If you want to show the text to someone who is likely to be able to read it aloud properly, you might be better off with the actual Chinese:

                                                    《施氏食獅史》

                                                    石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。
                                                    氏時時適市視獅。
                                                    十時，適十獅適市。
                                                    是時，適施氏適市。
                                                    氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。
                                                    氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。
                                                    石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。
                                                    石室拭，氏始試食是十獅。
                                                    食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。
                                                    試釋是事。

                                                    Ryting in Pinyin iz kynd uv lyk ryting Inglish fonetikly.

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                                                      [–]carcar14 138 points139 points ago

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                                                      What's the answer to the riddle?

                                                      [–]toiridhe 276 points277 points ago

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                                                      /shi/

                                                      [–]BigLlamasHouse 109 points110 points ago*

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                                                      Translated:

                                                      The lion statues were attached to a dam. The dam, when shot, briefly flooded the city. By the time he returned the flood waters had receded but his house was still wet.

                                                      [–]SomeNewUsername 79 points80 points ago

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                                                      Arrows brought down a dam?

                                                      Shi shot at statues?

                                                      That's the answer?

                                                      Clearly, the answer is not the clever part of the riddle.

                                                      [–]Dis_Manibus 10 points11 points ago

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                                                      I think its one of those riddles that you're supposed to ask yes or no questions to figure it out

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                                                        [–]chewitt 28 points29 points ago

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                                                        Translated back into Chinese: shi shi shi shi shi. shi, shi shi, shi shi shi. shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.

                                                        [–]Cat_Fish 49 points50 points ago

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                                                        OH DUH, HOW DID I NOT GUESS THAT?!

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                                                          [–][deleted] 13 points14 points ago

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                                                          Of course.

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                                                            [–]rizwan_k 37 points38 points ago

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                                                            hint: the house was dripping with water...

                                                            [–]TheHarrison 27 points28 points ago

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                                                            so the answer is??

                                                            [–]rizwan_k 39 points40 points ago

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                                                            I don't know...

                                                            [–]TheHarrison 12 points13 points ago

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                                                            there's no answer on google.

                                                            [–]RonWisely 34 points35 points ago

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                                                            WHAT IF WE NEVER KNOW?!

                                                            [–]nuworldblue 6 points7 points ago

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                                                            They froze.

                                                            [–]funfungiguy 11 points12 points ago

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                                                            They made a story into a riddle using only the word "shi". We're not gonna be clever enough to figure it out. They've got us beat.

                                                            [–]RodneyFiendish 3 points4 points ago

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                                                            Here's the answer.My Chinese uncle supplied it.Shi shi shi shi shi shi.Shi shi shi shi shi.Shi shi.Shi. :)

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                                                              [–]CptOblivion 7 points8 points ago

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                                                              Yes, that hint was right there in the text of the riddle. I still don't get what the riddle is, never mind what the answer to the riddle is.

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                                                                [–]GeneralGeneric 20 points21 points ago

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                                                                I would suspect that the lions were ornamental stone statues, but that's just my guess.

                                                                [–]squiremarcus 12 points13 points ago

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                                                                shi shi is an ornamental stone statue. i think that is how the riddle ends it cant be the answer. i think the man is a stone carver or something

                                                                [–]bobbyhead 17 points18 points ago

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                                                                I had to google this shit cause I was getting frustrated.

                                                                Here is the wiki article and the explanation doesn't do shit. This is the worst riddle ever. ruinin' my day . . .

                                                                [–]marysville 25 points26 points ago

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                                                                and the explanation doesn't do shi.

                                                                FTFY

                                                                [–]fotorobot 75 points76 points ago

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                                                                meth

                                                                [–]ajfranke 71 points72 points ago

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                                                                Shi: not even once.

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                                                                  [–]ChazMcGoo 8 points9 points ago

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                                                                  My guess is that the riddle is grammatical, but I don't really feel like figuring out the whole thing.

                                                                  Pay attention to the pronouns and how the sentences are structured. For example, in the first sentence when the story says "ten of them," we are meant to believe he is talking about lions. However, a careful reading and you might see he is talking about stone houses.

                                                                  [–]OwDaditHurts 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                  I can't figure it out either. I feel like the fact this his house is dripping water has something to do with it, but it still is making no sense.

                                                                  [–]someswedishgirl 9 points10 points ago

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                                                                  What if he got the lions, then came home and passed out, but slept and drooled thinking about eating the lions. Then some servers pulled the old switcharoo on him and stole his lions to feed their family and put stone lions there to make him think he was mad. Like oceans 11 or something but more chinese :P

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                                                                    [–]tsxy[S] 46 points47 points ago

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                                                                    Apprently there is a wiki page for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den

                                                                    [–]fall_ark 22 points23 points ago

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                                                                    Yeah. The linguist who wrote this is badass.

                                                                    [–]secondpolarbody 29 points30 points ago

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                                                                    TIL the guy who wrote the lion-eat poet poem also coined the term "stir-fry".

                                                                    [–]burpen 89 points90 points ago

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                                                                    He was one of the most clever men to have wokked the earth.

                                                                    [–][deleted] 30 points31 points ago

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                                                                    FUCK, I CAN NEVER BE ORIGINAL ANYMORE BECAUSE OF ASSHOLES LIKE YOU.

                                                                    [–]Youthsonic 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                    You have a talent, Burpen.

                                                                    [–]Redequlus 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                    Don't waste it all on derpin'

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                                                                        [–]knirefnel 10 points11 points ago

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                                                                        See also: Homophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese

                                                                        wait, what?

                                                                        EDIT: Oh, Homophonic

                                                                        [–]makes_a_bad_pun 1598 points1599 points ago

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                                                                        Shi just got real.

                                                                        [–]hegemonsaurus 508 points509 points ago

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                                                                        是，屎是事實. Pin Yin: shi4, shi3 shi4 shi4 shi2. Translated: Yes, shit is real.

                                                                        [–]insertAlias 429 points430 points ago

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                                                                        According to google translate:

                                                                        Yes, the feces is the fact.

                                                                        Amazing.

                                                                        [–]spaceywilly 227 points228 points ago

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                                                                        feces just got fact

                                                                        [–]inikul 88 points89 points ago

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                                                                        I prefer this version...

                                                                        [–]Gigablah 7 points8 points ago

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                                                                        Confirming that this is, in fact, legitimate Chinese.

                                                                        [–]MysticKirby 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                        This is my new saying.

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                                                                          [–]intervigil 71 points72 points ago

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                                                                          this is quite possibly the best reply I've ever seen on reddit

                                                                          [–]DivineRobot 31 points32 points ago

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                                                                          People who don't understand Chinese can't understand the genius of this post. I wish I have more upvotes to give.

                                                                          [–]johnleemk 2 points3 points ago

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                                                                          And unlike the subject of the original post, it's in essentially modern-day Chinese so anyone reading it, even a beginner, would be able to get it. It's bloody brilliant.

                                                                          [–]stinkytofudragon 12 points13 points ago

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                                                                          This post is really brilliant so I'm hoping to break it down for those who can't read Chinese.

                                                                          是，屎是事實.

                                                                          是 shì(is and yes by context),屎shǐ (a less common word for feces that I've only seen used for animals and insects).是shì(is and yes by context)事實shì(a compound of the character meaning issue or situation plus a character meaning true or real, which together do in in fact mean fact)

                                                                          所以,不失实,事事是事实.

                                                                          "屎是事实"是史诗.

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                                                                            [–]chezowek 49 points50 points ago

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                                                                            Too many mutha uckers uckin with my shi

                                                                            [–]Mynci 10 points11 points ago

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                                                                            My transaction shi

                                                                            [–]ttrilliann 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                            Don't wanna give an apple to a kiwi!

                                                                            [–]nixle 159 points160 points ago

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                                                                            Not a single shi was given that day. No, there were many.

                                                                            [–]guitard00d123 100 points101 points ago

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                                                                            that shi cray.

                                                                            [–]KimJongSvante 39 points40 points ago

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                                                                            i dont even know what that means!

                                                                            [–]wellheynow 83 points84 points ago

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                                                                            nobody knows what it means... but it's provocative

                                                                            [–]jbethersonton 42 points43 points ago

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                                                                            it gets the people GOING!

                                                                            [–]GorillaButt 19 points20 points ago

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                                                                            BALL SO HARD

                                                                            [–]hawk1410 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                            muhfuckas wanna fine me

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                                                                                [–]corrects_puns 1342 points1343 points ago

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                                                                                Shit just got real.

                                                                                FTFY

                                                                                [–]breadfaction 92 points93 points ago

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                                                                                That shi cray.

                                                                                [–]Vinicelli 456 points457 points ago

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                                                                                Downvoted, then came back and noticed novelty account. I apologize.

                                                                                [–]rubmytummy 266 points267 points ago

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                                                                                Downvoted, also. Then came back and saw your comment about it being a novelty account.

                                                                                [–]Lies_About_Upvote 343 points344 points ago

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                                                                                Upvotes all around!

                                                                                [–][deleted] 25 points26 points ago

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                                                                                You almost had me there, you crafty little shi

                                                                                [–]neyvit 152 points153 points ago

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                                                                                Novelty accounts are getting out of hand. I might just start downvoting all out of spite.

                                                                                [–]LetMeScrabbleThat 680 points681 points ago*

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                                                                                            H A N D     
              L   O     
              L   W     
                  N  
                  V     
                  O
              O U T
            O F   I
      N     U     N
A C C O U N T S   G
R     V       T
E     E       A 
      L       R   M
J U S T   G E T T I N G
      Y           G
                  H
            S P I T E

                                                                                [–]EmuFurore 100 points101 points ago

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                                                                                Impressive apart from "Dowivoting"

                                                                                [–]LetMeScrabbleThat 407 points408 points ago

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                                                                                S H I T

                                                                                [–]Legendman3 242 points243 points ago

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                                                                                SHI

                                                                                FTFY

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                                                                                  [–]pyvlad 25 points26 points ago

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                                                                                  You may be a hero.

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                                                                                    [–]agingpopstar 63 points64 points ago

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                                                                                    Might I suggest a novelty account, perhaps something such as "downvotes_novelty_accounts_out_of_spite" ?

                                                                                    [–]DownVotesNovelAcc 134 points135 points ago

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                                                                                    The name was too long.

                                                                                    [–]roguemenace 19 points20 points ago

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                                                                                    So out of curiosity, do you have to downvote yourself now?

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                                                                                        [–][deleted] 21 points22 points ago

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                                                                                        My novelty account sucks. There's only been two incidents where I could actually jump in and be relevant.

                                                                                        [–]itshotinmycar 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                        one who is retracted does not simply jump in

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                                                                                                    [–]mamjjasond 5 points6 points ago

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                                                                                                    That's what shi said.

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                                                                                                      [–]RuafaolGaiscioch 93 points94 points ago

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                                                                                                      My question is, even if this is grammatically correct, would anyone who spoke Chinese understand it?

                                                                                                      [–]zerbey 148 points149 points ago

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                                                                                                      Yes, when I first discovered it I had my Chinese friend read it for me. He couldn't finish because he kept breaking into fits of laughter at the absurdity of it all, but assured me it's a real thing and taught in school.

                                                                                                      [–]IbidtheWriter 15 points16 points ago

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                                                                                                      Disregard what others are saying, you wouldn't understand this if read aloud, though you would be able to understand it if you had the characters.

                                                                                                      [–]LazyAtWork 9 points10 points ago

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                                                                                                      This is correct. I had four Chinese flatmates whiles I was in the UK. I showed this to them, and while they understand what it meant when it was read, when they tried to listen to it, they could only follow the meaning for a few words before they lost it and started laughing.

                                                                                                      [–]tsxy[S] 50 points51 points ago

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                                                                                                      Apprently this is taught in school as part of the standard textbook. So yes.

                                                                                                      [–]sombrereptile 55 points56 points ago

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                                                                                                      That shi's crazy.

                                                                                                      [–]ghost521 35 points36 points ago

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                                                                                                      That shi cray

                                                                                                      FTFY

                                                                                                      [–]thatmandem 19 points20 points ago

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                                                                                                      Ain't it jay?

                                                                                                      [–]GlassesW_BitchOnThem 18 points19 points ago

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                                                                                                      What she order?

                                                                                                      [–]montereyjack 22 points23 points ago

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                                                                                                      Fish fillet.

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                                                                                                        [–]MAGNUM777 13 points14 points ago

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                                                                                                        shi shi shi FTFY

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                                                                                                            [–]measuredinyears 20 points21 points ago

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                                                                                                            Yeah, it's not really the same as, say, the "buffalo" sentence in English. Different tones are different words, so a sort of reverse analogy in English would perhaps be a sentence composed entirely of homophones like "here, hear, etc" or something. Pretty readable, just sounds funny.

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                                                                                                              [–][deleted] 424 points425 points ago

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                                                                                                              Thats what shi said

                                                                                                              [–]dbbo 12 points13 points ago

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                                                                                                              There are actually only 4 intonations, but each one has 10+ meanings.

                                                                                                              meanings of shī - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shī

                                                                                                              shí - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shí

                                                                                                              shǐ - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shǐ

                                                                                                              shì - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shì

                                                                                                              [–]Colbeagle 9 points10 points ago

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                                                                                                              At least it means something

                                                                                                              [–]pizzza 9 points10 points ago

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                                                                                                              That's what shi said.

                                                                                                              [–]peacebuster 8 points9 points ago

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                                                                                                              Take that buffalo.

                                                                                                              [–]StartSelect 8 points9 points ago

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                                                                                                              If you are thinking about commenting on the buffalo buffalo buffalo etc thing similar to this, its already been done 50 times below.

                                                                                                              [–]jimitonic 123 points124 points ago

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                                                                                                              Makes English seem easy. The longest complete sentence in English using the same word is just:

                                                                                                              Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

                                                                                                              [–]ban_radi0 200 points201 points ago

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                                                                                                              James, while John had had "had," had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

                                                                                                              [–]spikeyfreak 17 points18 points ago*

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                                                                                                              Isn't a semicolon kinda cheating though?

                                                                                                              Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo; Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo really well.

                                                                                                              [–]InVultusSolis 57 points58 points ago

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                                                                                                              It took me a minute to syntactically put this together in my head. I was almost not not not not not not not not not able to understand it.

                                                                                                              [–]aetheos 13 points14 points ago

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                                                                                                              What is "had" and "had had"?

                                                                                                              [–]thebatteryhuman 89 points90 points ago

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                                                                                                              The example refers to two students, James and John, who are required by an English test to describe a man who, in the past, had had a cold. John writes "The man had a cold" which is incorrect grammatically in this case, while James writes the correct "The man had had a cold". Since James' answer was right, it had had a better effect on the teacher.

                                                                                                              [–]aetheos 25 points26 points ago*

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                                                                                                              Ahhh OK, makes sense, thanks. Context is very important, I thought "had" and "had had" were some sort of food or some other noun.

                                                                                                              (Suppose James was the teacher, and "had" was a spicy noodle dish, whereas "had had" was a less-spicy noodle dish.)

                                                                                                              [–]leaf_house 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                              I remember in 2nd grade I think, I wrote a story and used some sentence where I wrote "had had" and my teacher circled the second had and crossed it out. I didn't argue but deep down I knew I was right.

                                                                                                              [–]ban_radi0 27 points28 points ago

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                                                                                                              "Take this sentence: “I have had too many chocolates today.” That sentence is in the present perfect tense. You use that tense when you’re talking about a past action that is continuing into the present. This sentence means that I started eating chocolates in the past but the chocolate eating is continuing up to the present. Present perfect tense uses “has” and “have” plus the past participle, as in “have had” and “has gone.”

                                                                                                              Now let’s put the chocolate sentence in the past tense. To do so, we’ll use past perfect tense, which uses “had” plus the past participle, as in “had had” and “had gone.” So in the sentence “I had had too many chocolates, so I was too full to eat dinner yesterday,” two things happened in the past. First was eating chocolates; second was trying to eat dinner.

                                                                                                              When you have two past-tense occurrences, you use past perfect to express the action that came first. If you are using the verb “to have” in past perfect, you need to use two “had”s.

                                                                                                              Here’s another past perfect example: “I had eaten too many chocolates, so I was too full to eat dinner yesterday.” This is grammatically the same as the “had had” sentence but we used the verb “to eat” instead of “to have.” Although “had had” isn't wrong, “had eaten” definitely sounds better."

                                                                                                              Source: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-is-double-has.aspx

                                                                                                              [–]aetheos 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                              Much appreciated. I just thought the sentence was cheating by using "had" and "had had" as nouns or something. Suppose James was the teacher, and "had" was a spicy noodle dish, whereas "had had" was a less-spicy noodle dish. I didn't realize they were answers on a test.

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                                                                                                                [–]GaiusSensei 2 points3 points ago

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                                                                                                                "had had" is Tagalog for dead skin cells.

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                                                                                                                    [–]grampapinch 17 points18 points ago

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                                                                                                                    Actually, depending on your opinions on grammar (specifically, if you have the same opinions as Noam Chomsky) You can say buffalo any number of times in a row and its grammatically correct. From once to infinity. Of course, the meaning becomes recursive, but who really cares.

                                                                                                                    [–]MrPsyentist 28 points29 points ago

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                                                                                                                    I think you missed a 'Buffalo'. I learned it as:

                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

                                                                                                                    [–]gavintlgold 49 points50 points ago

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                                                                                                                    It's possible to make a sentence with 1 or more buffalo. (In the case of one buffalo, it's an exclamation Buffalo!) You can use as many buffalo as you want, but the right Buffalos must be capitalized properly.

                                                                                                                    For example:

                                                                                                                    Buffalo! (what a city it is, Buffalo!)
                                                                                                                    buffalo buffalo (bison bully)
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo buffalo (bison from Buffalo bully)
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo (bison from Buffalo bully other bison )
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo (bison from Buffalo bully other bison from Buffalo)
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo (Buffalo bison that the bison from Buffalo bully, bully)
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo (Buffalo bison that the bison from Buffalo bully bully Buffalo as a city)
                                                                                                                    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo (Buffalo bison that the bison from Buffalo bully bully other bison from Bufallo)

                                                                                                                    It goes on ad infinitum, but I'd rather not put my brain through that.

                                                                                                                    [–]fenney 88 points89 points ago*

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                                                                                                                    No I think the first way was right.

                                                                                                                    Substitute the words and you get (many) (from Buffalo) (buffalo) (confuse) (many) (from Buffalo) (buffalo)

                                                                                                                    DISREGARD THIS, I SUCK COCKS.

                                                                                                                    [–]MrPsyentist 17 points18 points ago

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                                                                                                                    Where are you getting "many" from? There are only 3 uses of the word being used. The place(1), the animal(2) and the verb, to confuse(3). The order is:

                                                                                                                    1 2 1 2 3 3 1 2

                                                                                                                    Changing the animal to bison makes it easier for me to explain what I understand the sentence to mean:

                                                                                                                    "Bison from Buffalo that bison from Buffalo confuse, confuse bison from Buffalo"

                                                                                                                    Wikipedia to the rescue.

                                                                                                                    [–]fenney 9 points10 points ago

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                                                                                                                    Looking it up now, you're right. I'd either been taught or remembered it as one of the meanings of buffalo being many or numerous.

                                                                                                                    As in, if you had loads of pancakes you could say you had buffalo pancakes.

                                                                                                                    I have no idea where I got that from and you are indeed correct.

                                                                                                                    And now I want some pancakes.

                                                                                                                    [–]MrPsyentist 15 points16 points ago

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                                                                                                                    I like the idea of using buffalo in that context though. Like "I'm gonna eat buffalo pizza, man". I'm going to start using that, and when somebody says "what the hell are you saying?" I'll have forgotten why.

                                                                                                                    [–]FountainsOfFluids 17 points18 points ago

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                                                                                                                    "I'm going to eat buffalo wings."

                                                                                                                    [–]fwe4life 2 points3 points ago

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                                                                                                                    buffalo buffalo wings. yes.

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                                                                                                                          [–]forresja 13 points14 points ago

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                                                                                                                          This is the correct version.

                                                                                                                          "New York bison [that] New York bison bully [in turn] bully New York bison."

                                                                                                                          [–]spikeyfreak 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                                                                          TIL buffalo means confuse AND bully. Makes the sentence even more varied.

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                                                                                                                              [–]KillAllTheZombies 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                              Actually due to the "loophole" or whatever you would call it, the sentence can go on indefinitely while still being grammatically correct. Just make sure you make your head hurt capitalizing all the right words as you move towards infinity o__O

                                                                                                                              [–]Nacho_Average_Libre 5 points6 points ago

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                                                                                                                              I was under the impression that you can continue to construct proper sentences of any length as long as the number of words was odd. Buffalo ∞

                                                                                                                              [–]burpen 11 points12 points ago

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                                                                                                                              (Buffalo * 2n) + Buffalo

                                                                                                                              Where n = 0, 1, 2, ...

                                                                                                                              [–]shillbert 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                                              You can simplify that to (2n + 1)*Buffalo.

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                                                                                                                                  [–][deleted] ago

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                                                                                                                                  [deleted]

                                                                                                                                  [–]jzigsjzigs 19 points20 points ago

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                                                                                                                                  Dude, in middle school a friend of mine had some kind of thing where he would always say "BUFFALO." I'm not really sure why. We all thought it was funny, but I guess it got so bad that the teachers called his parents in for a conference. He never said it again, and we never really talked about it after that.

                                                                                                                                  [–]AnotherDouchebag 151 points152 points ago

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                                                                                                                                  Halfway through this post I had to check to see if you were "tells_shitty_stories." Sorry bro.

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                                                                                                                                      [–]Thedoorhack 24 points25 points ago

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                                                                                                                                      The lion statues were fountains... For those who were lost.

                                                                                                                                      [–]CptOblivion 28 points29 points ago

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                                                                                                                                      So... he went to the market, killed 10 fountains (the poem is therefore misleading, how can you kill something that isn't alive?) and then the fountains were still running when he took them home (what?) and somehow he didn't notice any of this, and tried to eat them?

                                                                                                                                      Seriously?

                                                                                                                                      [–]gndn 48 points49 points ago

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                                                                                                                                      Crystal meth is a hell of a drug.

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                                                                                                                                        [–]halibut-moon 26 points27 points ago*

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                                                                                                                                        Here is an American trying to recite that poem

                                                                                                                                        [–]InVultusSolis 34 points35 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Not only is it a poem, but it's a fucking riddle. And knowing Asians, the answer can only be constructed using the word "shi".

                                                                                                                                        [–]withallyourpower 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Oh shi-

                                                                                                                                        [–]Earthwormzim 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Audio

                                                                                                                                        [–]40kfreak 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        So many times I've seen this riddle, AND NEVER GET TO SEE THE ANSWER

                                                                                                                                        [–]shillbert 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        The answer is obviously shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.

                                                                                                                                        [–]40kfreak 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Motherfucker I want the actual answer

                                                                                                                                        [–]PerilPhoSho 6 points7 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        This. Explains. Everything.

                                                                                                                                        I was on the bus down from school the other day and these 2 people beside me (I now assume are Chinese) kept saying Shi, Shi, Shi in 3 different tones and then laughing hysterically afterwards. They did this for like 15 minutes and I was completely bewildered WTF was going on. NOW I KNOW.

                                                                                                                                        [–]bramanoodles 20 points21 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Shi's doing it right.

                                                                                                                                        [–]flip_flap 16 points17 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        http://zipmeme.com/uploads/generated/g1326920854103620431.jpg

                                                                                                                                        [–]Banana_Piranha 13 points14 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        My last name is Shi, and the character's not even in the poem. Poem, I am disappoint.

                                                                                                                                        [–]chefanubis 13 points14 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        TIL: chinese people speak pokemon

                                                                                                                                        [–]Rhinosaucerus 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Buffalo Buffalo

                                                                                                                                        [–]wafflesandchicken 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        Does anyone know the answer to the riddle in OP's post???

                                                                                                                                        [–]mind_twin 8 points9 points ago*

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                                                                                                                                        As someone who is currently learning Mandarin, this is by far the worst part of the language.

                                                                                                                                        Here's another tongue twister I learned my first year:

                                                                                                                                        妈妈骑马。马慢。妈妈骂马。

                                                                                                                                        Ma1ma1 qi2 ma3. Ma3 man4. Ma1ma1 ma4 ma3.

                                                                                                                                        Mother rides the horse. The horse is slow. Mother scolds the horse.

                                                                                                                                        [–]koreth 4 points5 points ago

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                                                                                                                                        You want 慢, not 满. Though "The horse is full" sort of also works, in a non-sequitir kind of way.

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                                                                                                                                          [–]Idiocracy_Cometh 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                                                          Hodór; Hodor Hõdor Hodór. Hôdor Hodòr Hodör!

                                                                                                                                          It all makes sense now.

                                                                                                                                          [–]L-Duderino 3 points4 points ago

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                                                                                                                                          I'm too high for this s**t.

                                                                                                                                          [–]Newtype0087 3 points4 points ago*

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                                                                                                                                          It's worth noting that in older forms of Chinese, most of these words were not pronounced identically. For example, in 7th century AD Chinese, the first sentence would have been pronounced something like:

                                                                                                                                          石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。

                                                                                                                                          dzyek syit syi dzriX sye dzyeX, dzyijH srij, dzyejH zyik dzyip srij.

                                                                                                                                          (IPA: ɟʑek ɕit ɕi ɖʐi ɕe ɟʑe, ɟʑij ʂij, ɟʑej ʑik ɟʑip ʂij)

                                                                                                                                          X indicates a tone (but I can't remember which). Other tones in Middle Chinese were predictable from the final consonant. I got these reconstructions from William Baxter's Etymological dictionary.

                                                                                                                                          Sound change over time made these words pronounced the same ([ʂɨ], roughly like English "sure"). This isn't actually a problem in Modern Chinese, since this sentence would be phrased quite differently in Modern Chinese (see Wikipedia's modern translation of the poem).

                                                                                                                                          Chinese characters have the interesting effect of allowing Classical Chinese to be (at least somewhat) intelligible to educated Chinese readers.

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