Fun with the English language

3 Responses to “Fun with the English language”

  1. Jon Baron Says:

    Another one, courtesy of my colleague Lila Gleitman: An eggplant is a fruit that looks like an egg (I assume). An eggplant plant is a plant on which eggplants grow. An eggplant plant plant is a factory for processing eggplant plants. And an eggplant plant plant plant is a spy in a factory …

  2. natalie Says:

    nice link to the linguistlist

  3. Jesse Ruderman Says:

    Five prepositions in a row: “What did you bring that book I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?” (From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage, under “preposition”.)