Grex Language Conference

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Grex Language Item 27: Ambiguity
Entered by remmers on Fri Nov 15 00:33:39 UTC 1991:

        Time flies like an arrow.

        <noun> <intransitive verb> <adverb> <noun phrase>
        <imperative verb> <noun> <adverb> <noun phrase>
        <adjective> <noun> <transitive verb> <noun phrase>

Any others?

6 responses total.

#1 of 6 by griz on Fri Nov 15 05:12:27 1991:

When I took generative syntax, those were the three we came up with.

#2 of 6 by remmers on Fri Nov 15 11:43:12 1991:

Speaking of generative syntax, type !phrase to get a half-dozen
phrases about the Saturday morning walkers.  Type !phrase again to
get 6 more, etc. etc.

#3 of 6 by reach on Fri Nov 22 23:44:42 1991:

"The computer scientist beneath the river underneath the parking space"?
Buried next to Jimmy Hoffa, no doubt.

#4 of 6 by davel on Tue Sep 22 01:18:28 1992:

Only two meanings, I'm afraid, and an oldie:
"I see", said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

#5 of 6 by davel on Sat Oct 3 00:49:43 1992:

A slightly different kind of ambiguity, but ... from the middle of an article
(worth reading) in _BYTE_, October 1992 (p. 48):

>    Because Japan's language is full of homonyms, kanjii conversion is a
>  rigorous software challenge.  I recently saw a demonstration of the
>  VP-2100, Fujitsu's mighty supercomputer, which had been programmed to
>  translate from Japanese to English.  Just to be nasty, somebody asked it
>  to translate the sentence "Kisha no kisha wa kisha de kisha shita."  Each
>  _kisha_ in that sentence is a different word.  It actually took the
>  computer longer to decide which kanji combinations to use for each _kisha_
>  than it took to produce the English translation: "The reporter from your
>  company returned to the office on the train."

(Immediately following is a discussion of Japanese Wah-Puro machines.  That's
short for "wah-doe purosessah", which you can figure out for yourself even if
you know no more Japanese than I do.)

#6 of 6 by tsty on Mon Oct 26 06:58:38 1992:

For some odd reason, after reading 0, the only thing I could think
about was the countering statement:
  
   Fruit flies like a bananna.
  
But upon further non-flippant refelction, the three interpretations
of 0 are completely realistic - and elucidating!
  
At teh monet I'm in no shape to disassemble that countering statement,
but if someone wouold be so kind as to do it for us, I'd read
the disassembly with interest.

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