Tuesday 27 June 2023

paronomasia (10. 838)

Like our previous encounter with the “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den,” we learn via the new shelton wet/dry that the repetition of buffalo eight times can be parsed as a grammatically correct and true statement, illustrating how homophones and homonyms can create ambiguity as well as nuance. The animal name—the noun with null inflection like deer—is also used as an attributive adjunct and as a verb, and without Americanisms is semantically equivalent to [The] Buffalo [Minnesota] bison that other Buffalo [New York] bison bully also bully Buffalo [Indiana] bison.

synchronoptica  

one year ago: the US Supreme Court OKs right of lawyers to advertise their services (1977), “Captain Video” (1949), another MST3K classic, the Bored Ape Yacht Club Music festival plus hummingbird moths

two years ago: your daily demon—PursonMoby Dick (1956), Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Seven Sleepers, Freddie Mercury’s first show (1970) plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: the first Pride March (1970), problematic upsampling plus Trump on Afghanistan

four years ago: Tironian shorthand, Zeitan characters plus a collection of modern-day retablos

five years ago: US Supreme Court upholds Trump’s travel ban plus the history of the US Pledge of Allegiance