Chris Higgins
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
by Chris Higgins - March 11, 2008 - 4:12 PM

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffaloBelieve it or not, this sentence is grammatically correct and has meaning: “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” First devised by professor William J. Rapaport in 1972, the sentence uses various meanings and parts of speech for the term “buffalo” (and its related proper noun “Buffalo”) to make an extremely hard-to-parse sentence.

Although most people know “buffalo” as both a singular and plural term for bison, and “Buffalo” as a city in New York, “buffalo” is also a verb meaning “to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.” Using these definitions, Wikipedia suggests the sentence can be read:

[Those] (Buffalo buffalo) [whom] (Buffalo buffalo buffalo) buffalo (Buffalo buffalo).

Still too hard to follow for those of us who don’t know “buffalo” as a verb. Refine once more:

[Those] buffalo(es) from Buffalo [that are intimidated by] buffalo(es) from Buffalo intimidate buffalo(es) from Buffalo.

And once more:

Bison from Buffalo, New York who are intimidated by other bison in their community also happen to intimidate other bison in their community.

Wikipedia has further explanation, including the slightly frightening note:

Buffalo is not the only word in English for which this kind of sentence can be constructed; any word which is both a plural noun and a plural form of a transitive verb will do. Other examples include dice, fish, right and smelt.

Beware of Buffalo buffalo, buffalo, for they may buffalo you.

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Comments (91)
  1. There is a similar use of words in Chinese with the sentence:

    ma ma ma ma,

    or:

    mother swears at the horse?

    It makes use of the different Chinese tones. But not nearly as long as the buffalo sentence.

  2. Hmm…that sentence structure graphic looks a bit like a buffalo too. Looks like it’s facing left.

  3. my head asplode.

  4. My sister’s father-in-law is nicknamed Buffalo. That could really mess things up if you used “buffalo” as a person’s name in that sentence…

  5. Johnny Cat made me choke on my Cap’n Crunch

  6. I put that sentence up as a favorite quote of mine on facebook about a month ago–as an editor with an English degree, it makes my heart happy :)

  7. That sound you just heard was my brain collapsing on itself….

    WHAAAAA????????

  8. Has is ever happened to you that you read a word so many times it stopped making sense?
    That’s exactly what happened here.

  9. Arrrrgggghhh! Brain cramp!

  10. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

    I think I see the first signs of a writer gone mad with this blog entry. Heh. ;-)

  11. How many cans can a can canner can if a can canner can can cans? A can canner can can as many cans as a can canner can if and only if a can canner can can cans.

  12. Ash: I agree completely.
    Not only has buffalo become devoid of all meaning, but even though I know better, each time I look at it, I think it is spelled incorrectly.

  13. This sentence is a favorite in computational linguistics lectures on parsing and machine translation, because it illustrates the weakness of automatic parsing tools relying on the form of the words in a sentence to determine how to break it up and categorize/translate it appropriately.

  14. i love the fact that “2007 Diet of The Year” is one of the adverts under the article. Eating 8 buffaloes can’t be a good diet….

  15. That diagram is sooo 1960s. Replace the S node at the top with a valid left-periphery (i.e., [CP [IP ... ]] at least). I don’t think that “Buffalo” as an adjective would go in the specifier position of an NP (it’s probably an adjunct). And a V can’t be the head of an RC–that should be a CP with a phonologically null head. Then you’ll be on your way to a 1980s Government and Binding tree.

  16. Woah, awesome…but really weird…
    It may just be me, but that seems to be missing a lot of words…

    “buffalo” = Those ???

  17. Here’s one I remember from Spanish Class:

    “Como como? Como como como!”

    (How do I eat? I eat like I eat!)

  18. I don’t understand how the “whom” can be taken out of the first example, can that be explained with an example of a similar sentence that uses no homonyms

  19. Grammatically correct? Perhaps, but this is a linguistic mess. If any of my students wrote this as an answer on their quiz, they would get an F.

  20. Developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers…

  21. Steve Ballmer was right! Fantastic

  22. Definitions of bison on the Web:

    * Scientific name for buffalo. The modern American buffalo is Bison bison.

    Oh you square me!

  23. reminds me of the Tagalog (Philippines) way of saying,

    “Is it going down?” = “Bababa ba?”

  24. Dutch example: “Als achter vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna”.

    Dutch has some more cute word weirdness:
    Koeieuier (Cows udder) has 7 vowels in a row.
    Angstschreeuw (fear scream) has 8 consonants in a row.
    Jazzzinger (Jazz singer) has 3 z’s in a row.

  25. “Developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers…”

    :o)

  26. A good friend showed me this one:

    Joe, where Bob had had “had,” had had “had had;” “had had” had had a better effect on the teacher.

    11 “had”s in one sentence

  27. Psh, do your homework better next time – you can get it up to a much more impressive eleven “buffalo”s quite easily:
    Those buffalo from Buffalo which buffalo buffalo from Buffalo buffalo those buffalo from Buffalo which buffalo buffalo from Buffalo.
    Or, in other words:
    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

  28. Oh, and for those people who are having trouble with the grammar of the sentence – would you have a problem with something like the following (just to pick a place name, a noun, and a verb at random)?:
    Chicago lawyers Chicago lawyers eat eat Chicago lawyers Chicago lawyers eat.

    A few words are implied; it parses like this:
    (Those) Chicago lawyers (that) Chicago lawyers eat eat (those) Chicago lawyers (that) Chicago lawyers eat.
    There’s a subset of lawyers from Chicago the members of which are eaten by lawyers from Chicago – that’s the first part of the sentence. The operative verb is the second “eat”: the people picked out by the first part (i.e. Chicago lawyers who get eaten by Chicago lawyers) eat Chicago lawyers who get eaten by Chicago lawyers – which is to say, there’s a group of lawyers from Chicago who engage in a very selective form of cannibalism, eating only each other.

    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo works the same way: (Those) upstate New York bison (that) upstate New York bison intimidate (in turn) intimidate (those) upstate New York bison (that) upstate New York bison intimidate.

  29. The mouse that the cat that the dog that the man frightened chased bit ran away.

  30. “Koeieuier (Cows udder) has 7 vowels in a row.”

    That has 7 vowels in a row plus 2 consonants.

    There’s even a better one in Finnish, 7 vowels in a row plus only 1 consonant:

    hääyöaie

    Means “an intention for a wedding night”. And yes, ‘y’ is a vowel in Finnish.

  31. The sign painter outside the coach and horses public house asked the landlord to come and inspect his work, the landlord said, “I like it, but I think there is too much space between coach and and and and and horses.”

    Jerry

  32. is this like the fish and chip shop sign fitters sentance: “the sign should read: Fish and and and and and chips”

  33. quote: Dutch example: “Als achter vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna”.

    I should have learned dutch as a foreighn laguage instead of latin. we have exactly the same:

    “Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach”

    (If flys fly behind flys then flys are flieing after flys)

    The same with “Robben” (seals)

  34. To improve on KJ’s proposal:

    How many can-cans can a can canner can, if a can canner can can can-cans?

  35. I’m from Buffalo, ate buffalo, saw a buffalo, ate a water buffalo, smelled a buffalo, saw a herd of buffalo out west, still have family living in Buffalo, and so visit Buffalo several times a year, and have even been buffaloed in Buffalo, and buffaloed a few times out of Buffalo, but I still love Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills, and am proud of being a Buffaloian and being able to use Buffalo 14 times in a sentence. Could one of you put that all together for me, I’ve got a headache.

  36. Don’t forget the internet classic:

    Badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger. Mushroom Mushroom

    This one is simpler in context, but perhaps less grammatically solid.

    Badgers harass badgers who harass badgers who harass other badgers who harass still more badgers ad infinitum. [followed by] Mushrooms grow rapidly.

  37. I don’t find sentences like this a compelling case against automatic parsing, because people can’t parse them, either.

  38. My favorite is

    The policeman the boy the dog bit called came.

  39. Yes, they can be parsed by humans. It may be physically to parse some on paper, but it can be done. A junior high student of mine once took a roll of newsprint and diagrammed (R-K) the
    last verse of “This is the house that Jack built”–the one beginning, “This is the cock that crowed in the morn.”
    He did not do it for extra credit but to show his friends that he could diagram a long sentence. When he asked
    what diagramming could get him extra credit, I showed him the three-page sentence in Les Miserables. I always felt that extra credit projects to raise one grade were counterproductive.

  40. AHHHHHHHH! MY HEADS EXPLODING WITH ANOTHER CONFUSING PIECE OF KNOWLEDGE WOULD WEBSTER HAVE KILLED HIMSELF IF HE KNEW HE HAD CREATED THIS MONSTER.

  41. by the time i finished that article, my brain started reading it as “Boo-FALL-oh.”

    why.

    *hurt*

  42. This is why I hate linguistics. It might be interesting to look at a sentence like this on paper, but in the real world NO ONE would ever say this and expect to be understood. People pat themselves on the back for being clever when they wrap their brain around things like this, but who cares! It doesn’t teach us anything about how the brain processes language. Diagramming sentences is the most useless linguistic endeavor, and Noam Chompsky is a chump! Linguistics is the study of how people use language, not an excuse to come up with bizzare formulations and say, ‘see, language is crazy!’ Gah!

  43. @ Lenary: Buffalo meat is actually incredibly lean and tasty! There’s a place in Dallas that serves buffalo tacos. Mmmmm… Buffalo tacos…

    Recaptcha: One volubly… appropriate for linguistics, I think

  44. To further improve on KJ’s proposal:

    If the can can dance, then the cancan can can cancan.

  45. Noam Chomsky reads Mental_Floss? The man is a god among linguists!

  46. Some guy mentioned the Chinese version (it only works in pinyin since the characters are written differently). It’s ma ma ma ma ma (de) ma ma? “Is mother angry at mother’s horse?” And the “de” can be omitted. There is an even longer one which is much harder to pronounce properly for foreigners. Forty-four stone lions are dead. But that one is more of a tonguetwister than actual real similar words.

  47. Buffalo meat is amzing! Tastes like very good steak; less fat and cholesterol than chicken.

  48. ooh. ooh.
    my favorite is this Chinese poem, “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den”

    Shíshì shīshì 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.

    I hope that displayed right. the translation is on the Wikipedia too :)

  49. a noisy noise annoys an oyster :)

  50. The old ‘F” word works for this as well, and at least to me, is more understandable than buffalo.

  51. you can make the bababa ba sentence in filipino into a conversation:

    a: bababa ba? (is it going down?)
    b: o ba. bababa, ba. (of course. it’s going down.)

    mmm? mmm…

  52. Seeing this almost literally made me pee my pants, seeing as that last night I attended a poetry reading in which the poet repeated the word “Buffalo” literally at least a hundred times as part of his poem.

  53. [...] Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” This is, apparently, a real sentence with actual meaning. I didn’t believe it either, but you can read an explanation at Mental Floss. [...]

  54. ugh i hate the english language!!!

  55. @chavela: lol..well, we all did but it is the most important language in the world, so we have no choice but to master it..

    Keep it up pal, thanks for this one, just bookmarked your blog and will come again later :)

  56. Whoa, Penix, that’s pretty harsh, at least depending on what the quiz question asked. A perfectly valid question for classes at upper levels is “Can you make a grammatically complete sentence using ONLY one word?” (I teach university English classes, so this isn’t some ignoramus writing to you.)

  57. Am I losing my marbles or did Noam Chomsky comment on this? Holy crap don’t you have better things to do Noam? I mean, I’m just sitting at work loafing off, but you have a shining star behind those eyes. Conquer political buffaloes!

  58. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever read!!!!!

  59. I don’t get it..hahaha

  60. There’s a famous and hilarious Monty Python definition of the word “Fuck” ending by such a sentence… Fuck the fucking fuckers. ;O)

  61. Police police police police police.

    Police that police police (as in to police something) also police (as in to police something) police.

    Works the same as the buffalo sentence, but you couldn’t add police as a modifier, I don’t think.

  62. I have figured out how to make this have an unlimited amount of buffaloes (with punctuation) or 1 or 2 buffaloes longer without punctuation. Other words don’t work as well since they don’t have 3 or more meanings. If you’re interested, email me at gyugov@mail.usp.edu (still trying to figure out if anyone else has figured this out and maybe a paper could be putlished if not…)

  63. ha! interesting…. *rubs chin*

    we also have that in our Filipino language:

    \Bababa ba?\ (Going down?)

  64. That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.

  65. Forgive me for asking,(also,I’m too lazy to just google it right now,and I’m not that terribly interested),but who is Noam Chomsky?

  66. We love buffalo here in South Dakota..they are tasty and go good with ketchup!

  67. Just found this post hence the late response but I must reply to Nikky. Your query as to whom Noam Chomsky is reminds me of the age old apocryphal question asked of the Rolls Royce salesman. That being ,if you ask how much it costs you can’t afford it. Or in this instance,if you have to ask about Chomsky you probably wouldn’t understand.

  68. I read this after a game of Apples 2 Apples and a few beers and…………………………..I can make no sense of it or of most of the comments at all.

    Alcohol:1
    Beth: 0

    …..but I can still type! (I think)

  69. I don’t know what the word “buffalo” means anymore.

    My brains hurts DX

  70. I started reading the sentence & then it picked up the tune of an old Comedy Central spoof song….

    “Buttafuoco Buttafuoco Buttafuoco…”

  71. oh dear…too early on a Monday to read this….

    you have failed me, brain!

  72. Given that Dyce is a place here in Scotland and Dice and Smelt are both fish I came up with:

    By Dyce, where fish fish fish, Dyce Dice dice Dyce Dice, Dyce Dice dice Dyce Smelt, Dyce Smelt dice Dyce Dice, Dyce Smelt dice Dyce Smelt and Dyce Dice smelt Dyce Dice and smelt Dice Smelt and Dyce Smelt smelt Dyce Dice and smelt Dyce Smelt.

    Verbally that’s nine dice in a row and twenty six in the sentence!!

    Not that I’ve got to much time on my hands or anything.

    Tom.

  73. Holy Mackerel! Homo sapiens sapiens, Chomsky chomping on bison bison.

  74. Like likes like like like likes like.

  75. This reminds me of a similar well-known sentence in German:
    Wenn die Damen in Baden in Baden-Baden baden, baden die Herren nicht!

  76. When I was a junior in HS my English teacher wrote this on the board in response to a complaint: “What’s punctuation good for?”;

    that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is Translation:

    That, that is – is.
    That, that is not – is not.
    Is that it?
    It is!

    I like palindromes better. The most exquisite:

    A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!

  77. Some people have too much free time.

  78. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

    Oh, sorry that’s something else.

  79. HUH!!!

  80. In Shona,the primary language in Zimbabwe: Vana vana vana vana vana, meaning “Four children have four other children”

  81. You can learn a lot about someone by asking them to punctuate this:

    woman without her man is nothing

  82. While grammatically correct, there is one problem with this sentence. There aren’t too many Buffalo buffalo. That is, not being native to Western New York, the only buffalo in the city are actually bison kept at the Buffalo Zoo. For this sentence to work, at least 2 of them would have to be trying to intimidate the others in the enclosure.

    While this is possible, having lived near the Buffalo Zoo I can personally attest to the fact that these “Buffalo buffalo” tend to stand or sit around all day and very rarely move. I highly doubt that they are buffaloing any Buffalo buffalo.

  83. Latin: “Malo malo malo malo” (missing macrons, which makes it more confusing:

    “I’d rather be in an Apple tree than an old man in adversity”…has a nice ring!

  84. @Moe I realize you posted that years ago, but that sentance is German, not Latin…so I’m not sure what foreign language class you were in…

    Also, I think what this really needs is a video–there probably is one on YouTube–because I can’t get beyond the first couple of Buffalos. It’s all about inflection.

  85. “Although most people know “buffalo” as both a singular and plural term for bison…” Since when is a buffalo and a bison the same animal? Same family yes, same animal no. Im just sayin…

  86. Wouldn’t the sentence “I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign” have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips

  87. We’ve got this wonderful tongue twister here in Finland that goes as follows:

    -Kokoo koko kokko.
    -Koko kokkoko?
    -Koko kokko.

    It translates as: Build the whole bonfire. The whole bonfire? The whole bonfire.

  88. I’ll buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo you and buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo …
    I don’t even know I’m saying (¯.¯)”

  89. Let’s Go Buffalo!!! oh wait, this is the wrong blog for that ;)

  90. I ran into an example the other day, the first two words of a headline were “Study Clouds” – I had to stop and reread it to figure out which was the noun and which was the verb.

  91. Bill where Ted had had had had had had had had had had had the professor’s approval.

    Punctuation is cool.

    Bill, where Ted had had “had had”, had had “had.” “Had had” had had the professor’s approval.

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