Obfuscated English (Post! Ye Bastards!)
Intro:
I'm sure most of you are familiar with "Obfuscated Perl". It's the idea that the syntax of the Perl code can be so obscure that what the program does is essentially unintelligible.
Well, what I want to do is amass a collection of English phrases and sentences whose meaning(s) are so obscure or ambiguous as to be nearly unintelligible. I think if I can come up with a list of phrases that is sufficiently long, it will be a rather amusing testament to the absurdity of the English language.
Rules:
1) Archeaic words and grammatical structures are fair game.
2) Olde/Middle English is *not*.
3) Obfuscation through specialization is off limits, it's too easy. This means to net-speak or medical terminologies etc.
4) Verbosity should be avoided. The idea is to boggle, not to bore.
6) Ambiguity is (also) encouraged.
What I want from you (please!):
As many bizzarre phrases/sentences as you can come up with. Post them here please! Link me to anyone you think would have fun coming up with stuff. I may also accept phrases that are just so bizzarre (yet correct) that they are worth posting.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with "Obfuscated Perl". It's the idea that the syntax of the Perl code can be so obscure that what the program does is essentially unintelligible.
Well, what I want to do is amass a collection of English phrases and sentences whose meaning(s) are so obscure or ambiguous as to be nearly unintelligible. I think if I can come up with a list of phrases that is sufficiently long, it will be a rather amusing testament to the absurdity of the English language.
Rules:
1) Archeaic words and grammatical structures are fair game.
2) Olde/Middle English is *not*.
3) Obfuscation through specialization is off limits, it's too easy. This means to net-speak or medical terminologies etc.
4) Verbosity should be avoided. The idea is to boggle, not to bore.
6) Ambiguity is (also) encouraged.
What I want from you (please!):
As many bizzarre phrases/sentences as you can come up with. Post them here please! Link me to anyone you think would have fun coming up with stuff. I may also accept phrases that are just so bizzarre (yet correct) that they are worth posting.