Badgering Buffalos, Buffaloing Badgers, and Starting a Papaya War

When it comes to grammar, linguistics, and the peculiarities of the English language, we at Sparknotes are not afraid to admit the truth: We are enormous nerds. Anagrams delight us, homophones get us all hot and bothered, and when we're having a particularly geeky day, we may or may not institute an office-wide rule that all conversations must be conducted in palindromes.

Sparknotes Editor #1: Rise to vote, sir.
Sparknotes Editor #2: Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.
Sparknotes Editor #3: No, sir, away! A papaya war is on!

As we pepper each other with palindromic prose and perpetuate proletarian panic over papayas (oh, did we mention that we like alliteration, too?), we stay on the lookout for new pinnacles of linguistic geekery. And today, we've finally found the best there is.

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

You: What do buffalo have to do with anything?
Us: WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW!

As it turns out, “Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo” is a grammatically correct sentence that demonstrates the power of homophones. And if you can make sense of it, then you can officially join your editors and claim membership in the Sparknotes Society of Distinguished Nerds. (We don't have hats or a newsletter or anything, but you get bragging rights!)

How does Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo work? In this sentence, “buffalo” has three different meanings.

Buffalo: adjective, meaning “from and/or of the city of Buffalo”.
Buffalo: noun, meaning “large hairy animal resembling a bison.”
Buffalo: verb, meaning, “to badger, bully, or intimidate.”

So...
Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

...is a simplified way of saying:

One group of Buffalo from the city of Buffalo will buffalo another group of buffalo from the city of Buffalo, who are buffaloed by a third group of buffalo from the city of Buffalo.

Or, using synonyms:

Buffalo bison badger Buffalo bison Buffalo bison badger.

Or, to paraphrase:

Mexican hippos intimidate Mexican hippos Mexican hippos intimidate.

Even your editors had to stare at all those “buffalo” for a solid 20 minutes before our brains finally unscrambled it, so don't give up. Your membership in the Society of Distinguished Nerds awaits.

Get it?

Related post: Oh No! It's Bad Metaphors and Similes!

Attention Sparklers!: Commenting capabilities will be down for maintenance on Tuesday, Feb. 9 during the morning and part of the afternoon. You should be able to comment again by late afternoon. If you have any trouble, e-mail us at contribute@sparknotes.com.