"bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

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Paññāsikhara
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"bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Paññāsikhara »

:rofl:

Okay, just reading through an end of term essay from one of the students here, when I found this brilliant little number in describing the origins of a particular Chinese Bbuddhist festival, based on the story of Moggallana saving his mother:

"Moggallana needed to put the sweet and tasty food in the 'bowel' and present to the monks on the fifteen (sic) day of the month."

Think I'll be going elsewhere for pindapata today .... :P
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tiltbillings
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by tiltbillings »

That is funny. English is a very difficult, confusing language.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Cittasanto »

:rofl:
witch, which is whitch?
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...
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Kim OHara
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Kim OHara »

tiltbillings wrote:... English is a very difficult, confusing language.
English is a very *big* language - there was a celebration recently (Oxford University Press? I can't remember) for its millionth word.
It is a very *flexible*, accommodating language, accepting words from everywhere and tolerating all sorts of strange grammar.
But yeah, those advantages come at a cost.
When you've worked out which witch is which and which is busy witching, you might like to work out why 'ghoti' should be pronounced the same as 'fish'.
:rolleye:

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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Euclid »

Hehe, that was always a favourite of mine.

Gh, from 'cough'.

O, from 'wort'? (can't remember what this properly is)

ti, from '-tion' (petition, for example).
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Laurens »

read, reed, read (past tense), red

English can be confusing indeed!

Obviously having a grasp of context can help haha
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

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Kare
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Kare »

Euclid wrote:Hehe, that was always a favourite of mine.

Gh, from 'cough'.

O, from 'wort'? (can't remember what this properly is)

ti, from '-tion' (petition, for example).
O from "women".
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Kim OHara
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Kim OHara »

Well done, folks :smile:
We now know all we need to know about fish, no?
Can anyone construct a meaningful, grammatically correct English sentence in which the word 'and' appears five times in a row, with only punctuation marks in between?
(Actually, I'm sure this one is not restricted to the English language - but it's cute anyway.)

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catmoon
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by catmoon »

Hm I don't suppose this would count....

I went to the beach with Andy, Mandy, Sandy and Randy.
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by DNS »

Paññāsikhara wrote: "Moggallana needed to put the sweet and tasty food in the 'bowel' and present to the monks on the fifteen (sic) day of the month."

Think I'll be going elsewhere for pindapata today .... :P
3 fold rule.

:rules:

(must accept what is in your bowl, bhante! just kidding)
being5
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by being5 »

Kim,
I could get to five consecutive ands by pretending a conversation between two people discussing digital signals. In digital logic there are elements called, collectively, 'gates'. Gates are named according to their functions: AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, (maybe others I've missed - it's been a while....)

"What kind of gate would you use?"
"An AND"
"And?"
"AND and AND into an OR".

being5
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Kim OHara
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Kim OHara »

Hi, Catmoon,
You're right:
I went to the beach with Andy, Mandy, Sandy and Randy.
does not count - the question said 'punctuation' not 'letters'. But thanks for your contribution anyway.

Beign5:
:toast:
Great solution! Original, idiomatic, and does everything I asked for.
Like to try the next level up: 'and' five times in a row, with only punctuation in between (okay, no change yet) but now all in one, grammatically correct sentence.
:smile:

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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Paññāsikhara »

I'll provide the letters, somebody else can throw in the punctuation:


...andandandandandand...

hmmm, we can add " " too, right?
And it could be in new sentences, as well ...
Must be some "and", "an" or "a" (but then the next would have to start with "nd.."), and also "dan".
The first word may just end in "an" or "and", and the last word may just start with "dand" or "and" ...

...stand and a "n". dan d and andy ...

:rolleye:

For "and"s I can mange, but the fifth is tricky!

Can I use "nda" as a "near death axperience"?

There's got to be some trick here ... :P
My recently moved Blog, containing some of my writings on the Buddha Dhamma, as well as a number of translations from classical Buddhist texts and modern authors, liturgy, etc.: Huifeng's Prajnacara Blog.
Paññāsikhara
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Paññāsikhara »

Good lord! Here's a good one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_bu ... lo_buffalo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Though there is nothing like a Google to give the game away...
(Google it yourself, I'm not giving you the link!)
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Kim OHara
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Re: "bowls" and "bowels" - what a howler!

Post by Kim OHara »

Sometimes Google and Wikipedia make things too easy, but mostly they bring great goodness to our lives.
:bow:
I knew the 'Buffalo' sentence but not the 'had' sentence, so thanks.

Back to the topic:
The *word* 'and' five times in a row, in one grammatical sentence, is perfectly possible without any tricks. If you want to use tricks like counting the last three letters of 'hand' as an 'and', the target becomes seven times in a row.
(And yes, quotation marks are useful.)
Any takers?

By the way, everyone who is enjoying this thread should also enjoy 'Free Rice' http://www.freerice.com/, which has the bonus of feeding the hungry.

Kim
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