• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Self-annihilating sentences

 
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A collection: http://ling.upenn.edu/%7Erclark/gorn.html
Examples:
This book fills a much-needed gap.
Way down deep he's shallow.
Anyone who goes to a psychoanalyst should have his head examined.

This is a good one: The future isn't what it used to be.
And this is in D.Hofstadter's style:
You have the distinction of being the only one who is not exceptional.
[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]
 
whippersnapper
Posts: 1843
5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I suppose Map would object to sentences such as:
I'm in the middle of writing my second book.
Because it's not "actually" a "book" yet. I mean, it's probably just Os and 1s on some magnetic storage device at this stage. Doesn't have any paper pages or binding. Can't make that figurative leap and call it a book. Nope. Can't do that.
And isn't the "future" one a Yogi Bera-ism?
And of course you know that large numbers of Russian verbs are "self-annihilating."
[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Michael Matola ]
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 113
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
The silence was deafening
 
Sheriff
Posts: 6450
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think you're approaching dangerous territory with this topic, Map. I fear that discussing the annihilation of sentences, or any other parts of speech for that matter, can only serve to needlessly enflame emotions. The fact that a self-annihilating sentence can kill an entire paragraph in the blink of an eye, leaving sentence fragments and dangling participles in its destructive wake, is certainly not a subject for lite conversation. It's far from meaningless, and it certainly isn't drivel. I've got my eye on you.
[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Jason Menard ]
 
Michael Matola
whippersnapper
Posts: 1843
5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Following Jason, I feel very post-ironic.
 
Mapraputa Is
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Jason: I've got my eye on you.
Now the future isn't what it used to be.
 
Mapraputa Is
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
MM: And of course you know that large numbers of Russian verbs are "self-annihilating."
You mean "enantiosemic" (words that are their own opposites) or, to put it simply, auto-antonyms? They exist not only in Russian.
I posted this collection in MO a while ago, but here it is again.
cleave
to bring together / to cut apart
leave
John left his company last month / Then what is left there?
custom
usual, ordinary / special, made-to-order
overlook
to look over / to refuse or fail to see
scan
to examine closely / to glance at quickly
 
author
Posts: 9050
21
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
clip
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 2937
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A few from the top of my head:
Test your code before you code.
The first rule of code optimization: don't do it.
When discussing political subjects in MD, don't act like a politician (or a cowboy).
The key to MD moderation is moderation.
Don't title your subjects "HELP!" when you need help.
There is no free lunch when it comes to "leaving no child behind".
 
High Plains Drifter
Posts: 7289
Netbeans IDE VI Editor
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
"The fans have been staying away in droves." -- Yogi Berra
"Every day it's the same thing: variety!" -- some marvelously twisted Looney Tunes writer.
"I want no part of an organization that would have a guy like me for a member." -- Groucho Marx ( nice self carbon-dating there, EFH! )
[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Michael Ernest ]
 
author and iconoclast
Posts: 24207
46
Mac OS X Eclipse IDE Chrome
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:

"I want no part of an organization that would have a guy like me for a member."


Groucho Marx.
 
town drunk
( and author)
Posts: 4118
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dude
 
Mapraputa Is
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
How about "cordial"?
From one side "warm and sincere; friendly", from another:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, speaking after the interview was published, promised frosty politeness when he met Mahathir on the final day of the summit. "I will maintain cordiality and no more with Dr. Mahathir," he said.


formally polite?
 
Max Habibi
town drunk
( and author)
Posts: 4118
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
From yoga class last night:
Those of you who can't put your shin behind your ears are permitted not to

[ April 29, 2004: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]
 
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic