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Buffalo Buffalo

Six Word Photo Story Challenge: Freestyle

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Buffalo — verb, noun, or proper noun?

There are 6 buffalo in the cover photo. You can’t see one of them unless you zoom in and spot a small set of horns somewhere in the middle of the buffalo mess.

I took one look and them and remembered this iconic English sentence:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Note that the capitalization seems weird. But it is intentional. There are three forms of the word buffalo at play here:

  • Proper noun — the name of a city in New York state
  • Noun — just another ordinary buffalo or bison
  • Verb — where it means to confuse or intimidate someone

Today, I finally understood how this makes for a grammatically accurate sentence. The thought of saying it to someone with a straight face makes me break out into giggles.

Can you tap a passerby on their shoulder and deliver this sentence to them? Keep count. You have to say buffalo eight times, preferably with the right intonation. Let me know how that goes.

Meanwhile, I present half a dozen calm Indian buffalos that don’t buffalo Buffalo buffalo!

This article explains the sentence clearly, in case of academic interest!

Submit your quirky/pretty/interesting/moving photos with a 2-minute note to Six Word Photo Story Challenge:

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Six Word Photo Story Challenge
Six Word Photo Story Challenge

Published in Six Word Photo Story Challenge

Monthly six word story writing challenges inspired by photos taken by yourself

Anu Anniah
Anu Anniah

Written by Anu Anniah

Writer. Published author. Technical writer. Poet. Sit-down comedian. Collector of friends. Greedy for laughter.

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