Don't touch me, you drink!

[Jenna!]

I remember a year or so ago..perhaps longer, there was a thread on PPT with certain kinds of sentances.I forget what they are called, but they were very unique.

You see, these sentances could be said two or more different ways.If anyone could enlighten me on what they are called, please do.Also, post any that you can think of!

EXAMPLES!

"Don't touch me, you drink!"That could mean, "Don't touch me because you drink" or "Don't touch me because you are a beverage".

See what I mean?

[Bekkichan]

Not sure if it's the answer you're looking for, but I believe that's an example of lexical ambiguity - when a sentence can have multiple meanings depending on the way one ambiguous word is used.

One example would be "My kid has grown another foot." Depending on which meaning of "foot" is intended, that could mean the kid grew a foot taller, or the kid actually sprouted a new foot.

A similar pattern is structural ambiguity, where the meaning of a sentence depends not on a single word, but on a whole structural pattern - such as "Two cars were reported stolen by the police." Were the cars stolen by the police, or were the stolen cars reported by the police?

Again... I'm not sure if this was the answer you were after, but this was the nearest I could find to your example in my old linguistics notes. Also, pardon my long-winded-ness. I'm terrible at explaining things. ^^;;

[alien]

oh.. like "Time flies like an Arrow, but Fruit flies like a Banana"?

[Skynetmain]

Just to join in. I remember the greatest sentence from the ambiguous reference lesson in HS English. Please don't be offended. It is not ment to be taken as a reference to something illegal, just misleading. Since brevity is the soul of the wit, I will be brief.
Here it is: **Self-censored because it might seem inappropriate***
It is meant to be misinterpreted so I'll only leave it up for a couple hours or until it is censored.

Last edited by Skynetmain on Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

[_jade_em_]

Yes, t'was a thread of Ambiguous Sentences ^^; I remember that.

I also remember a sentence from the old thread: "He hit the kid with glasses."
Did he hit the kid who wore glasses, or did he use a pair of glasses to hit the kid?

[kanashimi]

heheheheh...

I remember I read a funny line in the newspaper... it was about the bird flue (not such a funny matter):

"Due to bird flue, 500 farms were sprayed with over 6000 ducks"

XD