And if you look up “garden path sentences” on Wikipedia, you’ll find all sorts of sentences like “The horse raced behind the barn fell” (where “raced” is a participle).

henma:

darkweasel:German: "Wenn hinter Fliegen fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen hinter Fliegen" (When flies fly behind flies, flies fly behind flies).

I think one of those should be in upper case, shouldn't it? Because one of those is a noun. I think the first one, because, if I remember well, when "Wenn" is used, the verb goes to the end (ok, ok,... half the time the verb goes to the end, doesn't it?)

Indeed - in this "wenn" phrase the verb goes to the end. My mistake was that I typed one "fliegen" too many (I shouldn't type such sentences when I'm tired...)

So I'm correcting myself:
"Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen hinter Fliegen."
literally "When flies behind flies fly, fly flies behind flies"

tommjames:It probably helps to see the sentence in Esperanto:

Bubalaj bubaloj, kiujn Bubalaj bubaloj bubalas, bubalas Bubalajn bubalojn.

Except that the city name in Esperanto seems to be Bufalo.
It's apparently unclear if the city name is in fact derived from the animal or not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo,_New_York#Nam...

darkweasel:German: "Wenn hinter Fliegen fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen hinter Fliegen" (When flies fly behind flies, flies fly behind flies).

And another very similar one in German:
"Wenn hinter Griechen Griechen kriechen, kriechen Griechen Griechen hinterher."
(When Greeks creep behind Greeks, Greeks creep behind Greeks).

In "Der gefangene floh" there are two different possibilities of using upper case resulting in different meanings:
"Der gefangene Floh" = the caught flea
"Der Gefangene floh" = the prisoner escaped

fizikisto:
In "Der gefangene floh" there are two different possibilities of using upper case resulting in different meanings:
"Der gefangene Floh" = the caught flea
"Der Gefangene floh" = the prisoner escaped

lol. Never thought of that one.

Which however reminds me of the fact that "Maße" ("measures" or "small amounts") and "Masse" ("masses") are both spelled "Masse" when typing in uppercase, or ß isn't on one's keyboard, or always in Switzerland. So what does a Swiss want to say when he writes "Bier in Massen trinken" (either "to drink beer in small amounts" or "to drink beer in masses")?

darkweasel:Which however reminds me of the fact that "Maße" ("measures" or "small amounts") and "Masse" ("masses") are both spelled "Masse" when typing in uppercase, or ß isn't on one's keyboard, or always in Switzerland. So what does a Swiss want to say when he writes "Bier in Massen trinken" (either "to drink beer in small amounts" or "to drink beer in masses")?

I don't know, but one of the first things I learned how to say in German was:

"Ein Maßbier, bitte!"

(and "Tief ins Glas schauen", "Aus der Flasche trinken", "ich bin besoffen!" *, etc., etc. - And yes, my german friends used to drink a lot )

Amike,

Daniel.

* This is an English forum, so the translations: "To see the bottom of the glass" (to be drunk), "to drink from the bottle", and "I am drunk"

russ:

tommjames:It probably helps to see the sentence in Esperanto:

Bubalaj bubaloj, kiujn Bubalaj bubaloj bubalas, bubalas Bubalajn bubalojn.

Except that the city name in Esperanto seems to be Bufalo.
It's apparently unclear if the city name is in fact derived from the animal or not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo,_New_York#Nam...

I've heard that the name of the city is an English corruption of the French "beau fleuve" (beautiful river), but I can't find any positive verification of that. At any rate, it has nothing to do with the animal. They were never native to western New York state.

69UM24OSU12:I've heard that the name of the city is an English corruption of the French "beau fleuve" (beautiful river), but I can't find any positive verification of that. At any rate, it has nothing to do with the animal. They were never native to western New York state.

"Most popular accounts hold that the name 'Buffalo' is a corruption of the French phrase beau fleuve, 'beautiful river', a phrase said to have been exclaimed by French explorers upon seeing the Niagara River. This speculation, however, is contradicted by primary sources. French explorers actually referred to the Niagara River in print as Riviere aux Chevaux, 'River of Horses'. The earliest name origin theory to appear in print (1825) relates a story about stolen horsemeat being passed off as bison flesh, with the site of the illicit picnic henceforth remembered as 'Buffalo', but the author who conveyed this tale expressed his skepticism. What is clear is that there were no bison in the area; that the settlement of Buffalo took its name from Buffalo Creek; and that Buffalo Creek first appeared on a map in 1759-1760. Although the Beau Fleuve theory is the least plausible of several theories, it is unlikely that Buffalo's true name origin can be conclusively established."

(From Wikipedia)

@ Henma, Darkweasel:

Actually, it would be: "Ein Maß Bier bitte." Where Maß is a 1 liter glass.

That would also give the sentence before a third meaning: Drinking beer from 1 l glasses.

Gerald