May 2012
1 post
“The bread jumped out.”
– Saanich / Turner (2012)
March 2012
1 post
“Now act so manly that you drive them away, so that we don’t lack all good...”
– Old Icelandic / Rögnvaldsson (1998)
November 2011
1 post
“I drove a team of horses to your mother.”
– Blackfoot / Bliss (2011)
July 2011
2 posts
“My koalas were not misplaced by the luggage handlers.”
– English / Potsdam (1996)
“Don’t sod off right away now, man, don’t spoil things!”
– Dutch / Rooryck and Postma (2007)
June 2011
1 post
“I don’t like the ash cloud”
– Icelandic (well played, sir)
November 2010
1 post
“Mostly he went there for the walruses.”
– Old English
October 2010
1 post
“The plan was to go fetch two hamsters from them.”
– Papiamentu / Kouwenberg and Lefebvre (2007)
September 2010
1 post
“In this way, this girl gave birth to a bear puppy.”
– Quechua / Faller (2002)
July 2010
1 post
“…and they vexed them with torture, that they should eat bacon against...”
– Old English / Taylor and Pintzuk (2010 DiGS)
June 2010
1 post
“There were just bears having that fiesta there.”
– Tarahumara / via @nmashton on twitter
March 2010
2 posts
“The government made fish disappear.”
– Chichewa / Baker (1985)
“Having bleated like a goat, Mohan was hit with a mallet.”
– Hindi / Anand and Nevins
February 2010
3 posts
“They began to have glistening turds.”
– Greenlandic Eskimo / Sadock (1986)
“You must squeeze the hyena.”
– Fulani / Stennes (1967)
“I sent a calabash of beer to the chief.”
– Chichewa / Baker (1988)
January 2010
2 posts
“Now it’s not interesting to talk when we know that the...”
– consultant win! Bagvalal / Kibrik (2001)
“I was like ‘Lizzie you just sat on the what swing?’”
– English (child’s speech) / Odato (2010)
November 2009
1 post
“Don’t you be having no more of ’em bagels now, son.”
– English / Mastop (2005)
October 2009
2 posts
“Come on, get yourself wings, come on, become a bird.”
– Maori / Polinsky (2001)
“Come on, old woman, try and hit the fox with the stick.”
– Even / Malčukov (2001)
September 2009
1 post
“It is a great thing for struggling youth to have a three-syllabled name with a...”
– English / Garrett (2004/9)
May 2009
1 post
“Who in the forest is going to get infected from wood?”
– Russian / Kwon (2009)
April 2009
1 post
“Taro was adversely affected by Hanako starting a new religion on him”
– Japanese / Kubo (1992)
March 2009
2 posts
“The hyena cut the rope with the knife.”
– Chichewa / Baker (1985)
“Mary promised Pepi that they would wash each other”
– Kapampangan / live from field methods class!
February 2009
1 post
so yeah, things have been a bit slow. been assigned a lot of Chomsky, and let’s face it, he isn’t exactly full of humor.
January 2009
2 posts
“I and thou and our two sons, he said to his wazirs and grandees.”
– Burushaski / Johannessen (1998)
back from break
welcome to spring semester 2009. time to read more syntax articles and encounter more insane sentences.
December 2008
1 post
“Let her enchant him in his arse.”
– Hittite / Garrett (1990)
November 2008
8 posts
“The diplodocus will eat my breakfast every day.”
– Breton / Jouitteau (2007)
“Sweetest of sleeping is copulation.”
– Old Irish / Watkins (1976)
“The glorified marine smelled to the bird.”
– Samoan / Yu (2008)
“I have a lot of nulla-nullas and such like.”
– Warlpiri / Legate (unpub. handout, 2007)
“There is a mongoose on the shelf.”
– English / Freeze (1992)
“Many Christmas trolls probably ate the sausages.”
– Icelandic / Bobaljik and Jonas (1996)
“Lord, that was the best manure that ever twas.”
– Appalachian English / Zanuttini (2008)
“Grissom drank three bottles of wine on Sara.”
– Chinese / Kuo and Lin (2008)