TMQ #132 -- Harvey Face to Face

Discussion of The Magic Quill #132 -- Harvey Face to Face (http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/themagicquill/tmq132.shtml)by Robbie Fischer.

P.S. This was the funniest Magic Quill I've read yet, Robbie. Great ideas from everyone!

Ooohh! I snuck in before the link was up and had a read. Great, Robby! (Great ideas, EVERYONE!) But what's this about Rigel shutting him up? Or will he? Or is that will he have? Will he had? Had have?

Punctuate the following so it makes sense: John while James had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher than had had had

I'm stumped about the sentence with all the hads. Assuming some of them have a meaning I don't know about, I can only get about six "hads" in before I run out of gas.

As to Rigel shutting him up...well, if Harvey 2 was living backward through time, and he spent a period of time in the Crystal Cave, then whoever was with him at the near end of his backward-in-time incarceration must have put him in (i.e. Rigel); and whoever was with him at the far end (Harvey 1) must have let him out. Of course from Rigel's point of view it happened the other way around. It's possible that Harvey is a little confused about this.

Robbie,

First please note that the main TMQ page still doesn't have a link for Harvey Face to Face. I get there by tinkering with the URL from another page, but not everyone will try this.

As to the 'had's ... well there's a hint in the person affected and a hint in this answer. I'll send you a private answer later if you need it.

And that Healer must be a saint, with sessions like that one. What did Mr. Faberhorn take to get in the ward, anyway?

I guess I'll have to open the Faberhorn issue to a survey one of these days...though I would kind of rather not know.

I Wiki'ed the "had had" sentence, so I could rest last night. I've got it now. Here's another like it: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. No punctuation needed, but can you figure out what it means?

I'll ask my editor about that link ASAP. Thanks!

That was really funny, Robbie! And congratulations to everybody who got chosen.

I'm useless about the two sentences above. Haven't a clue.

That was a brilliant chapter! I'm gonna have to read it again.
As for the sentances... I dunno. I'll have to google them.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. No punctuation needed, but can you figure out what it means?No punctuation needed, but I'd give it four well-placed exclamation points, Robby.

I'm assuming that the survey and challenge for #133 are still open?

I'm assuming that the survey and contest for #133 are still open?

I've just thought of a therapy of sorts for Training Potion: An extremely mild dose followed by enforced rest. Dangerous, but maybe worth it.

Bravo , Robbie! A real virtuoso feat of Quilling.
(I'm not quite there with the bison yet, but assume the capitol B ones are the city?)

I'm assuming that the survey and challenge for #133 are still open? I'm assuming that the survey and contest for #133 are still open?

Oh, yes. Sorry, I should have said - the survey & contest for 133 are still open until, I believe, Sunday.

(I'm not quite there with the bison yet, but assume the capitol B ones are the city?)You're getting the drift. The sentence works because (1) there are 3 ways you can use the word "buffalo," and (2) words like the relative pronoun "that" are not strictly necessary.

Just wait till we start discussing sentences like, "The old man the boat," "The man who whistles tunes pianos," and, "The horse raced past the barn fell."

In certain dusty halls of ancient computer lore, famous is the assertion "You can tune a file system, but you can't tune a fish." Famous also is the rebuttal: "You can tuna fish--in canneries."

So ... the bison of Buffalo bully or are bullied, or both, out of turn. MMMmmmm.

In certain dusty halls of ancient computer lore, famous is the assertion "You can tune a file system, but you can't tune a fish." Famous also is the rebuttal: "You can tuna fish--in canneries."

Sounds like a variation on the old saying, "You can pick your friends. You can pick your nose. But you can't wipe your friends on your sleeve."

Then there's the Groucho Marx line: "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

Well, here's another one to punctuate, though some of you may know it:

time flies you can't they fly too fast

Well, I get most of these weird sentances now by cheating. (aka, googling)
A few I think I got on my own:
The old man the boat. (Meaning The elder people crew the boat.)
The man who whistles tunes pianos. (A whistling man tunes several pianos)

Here's one:

I is the third of five.
The sentance is perfectly fine alone, but adding a six letter word to the end makes it evn better.

Ah, yes, and you're missing one, with another wrongly chosen.

"The contents of this document are known to be incorrekt, incomplet, and inconSiStent." ---Included in the introduction to early drafts ("working papers") of the technical standard for the programming language C++.

So ... the bison of Buffalo bully or are bullied, or both, out of turn. MMMmmmm.

Actually, the very same bison who are bullied, bully in turn.

Actually, the very same bison who are bullied, bully in turn.

So the bulls are bullies?

Common English word, nine letters, one vowel. No semivowels like 'y', not a contraction, no tricks. Well, one small trick, but it's not a cheat.

I got one of the sentances wrong? Pfft. I actually thought about them. Which one was it?
As for the nine-leter word- how common is common? Do you say it evryday?

I don't know if you say it daily, but a native English speaker knows it by grade shcool and you wouldn't take notice of it in ordinary conversation.

I don't know if you say it daily, but a native English speaker knows it by grade shcool and you wouldn't take notice of it in ordinary conversation.

Vocabulary is one of my strengths, but frankly I was stumped until I found a Wiki page on "English Words with Uncommon Properties." It was buried quite a ways down the list even so. I found out some interesting things by reading the page, though.

... I was stumped until I found a Wiki page on "English Words with Uncommon Properties." It was buried quite a ways down the list even so. I found out some interesting things by reading the page, though.Point me to that page! I found this one myself. (Oh, and a <grin> 'tween you and me.)

greyniffler, see this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_with_uncommon_properties). You may also like this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences). And then this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence). And then this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian). And also this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ambiguity). The chain goes on and on. I eventually found myself reading Wikiquote pages of one-liners by Steven Wright, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, and Henny Youngman. In the wonderful world of Wiki you can follow a thread from one piece of useless information to another forever!

I updated the link.... it should work now

The sentance is perfectly fine alone, but adding a six letter word to the end makes it evn better.

Dragonic, my apologies. I must have overlooked your post several times.

The sentaEnce is perfectly fine alone, but adding a six letter word to the end makes it evEn better.Two vowel errors: one a misspelling, one missing. Or was that part of the clue?

No it's not part of the clue, just the result of posting very quickly in between two important homework assignments.