OT - Repeating Sentence Puzzle
 

I recall some time ago seeing a puzzle along these lines, and thought it might be interesting to try out here. There's a fair degree of latitude involved... so there might be some creative answers that work.

The puzzle is this: Construct an intelligible English language sentence...

(okay, we've lost some of our audience already)

...which uses the same exact word as many times in a row as possible.


Conditions:

-You may not use quotations. (XXX = He said "winner winner.")

-You may not use the word as a reference to itself. (XXX = We like "like" better than "dislike.")

-This space reserved to smack down clever entries that otherwise sneak around the intentions of the contest

For what it's worth, what I really remember about this contest from some time ago was a particularly clever response which used only one word, repeated several times, and could (with a little imagination) be construed as a working sentence.

It's clear that that that was the best that of all.

Can we use another sentence to set up the contest sentence? Give it context, etc.

Is is is, is it not?

edit - Don't both of our entries violate the second condition?

In my mind, the third appearance of the word requires quotations... and I'm interpreting (that) and ("that") to be separate words. You get two in a row... maybe the easiest word with which to do so.

Probably so.

This reminds me of the old punctuation riddle with the word "had" eleven times in a row.

Yes, that seems fair enough to me. The "clever" answer I alluded to probably requires at least some setup... at least to refresh people's recollections about multiple meanings of the word.

Your mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother wears army boots.


--no idea if this is correct...just sounded cool...

For the sake of this puzzle, what defines a word? Is it a grouping of letters in the same order, or does the meaning have to be the same?

In other words, in the sentence "The WR has to considered a top draft pick once you combine his college stats with his combine performance..." is "combine" considered the same word?

Good point. Multiple meanings are fine - i.e. you are free to combine combine ratings into an index, and double up.

I know that that that that person said is true.

I'd like to use rule #3 on you... but I'm not sure if I can do so. Of course, this would make the contest trivial, since this could theoretically have no end. I guess I'll invoke rule #3 and suggest that this generically violates the spirit of the contest. But it's damned clever.

That is very good.

damn you, you poker and racing degenerate...

Wouldn't that be the equivalent of suggesting something like "My lunch was very, very, very, very ..... very tasty?"

The clever entry that I recall from some years ago is as follows:

(for background purposes)
buffalo = Bison bison, endangered herd animal(s)
buffalo = semi-slang term for "to confuse"

Therefore, if you wanted to say that bison confuse bison, you could state it thusly:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo.

And, if you wanted to observe this fact, and then note that the bison who are themselves confused by other bison are a source of confusion to other bison. A more concise phrasing might be:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.

...and you can see how it could get even more disjointed from there. But at least in concept, it's a workable sentence.

I guess that this one ought to go under a "gratuitous redundancy" clause, which probably should have been its own rule. But I see it as being slightly different from the "mother's mother's..." idea, as that has an arguably specific meaning (i.e. six uses is different from five uses).

What if it was REALLY good?

edit -- I guarantee you find that passage in a sitcom script...

I suppose my "is" entry was discounted on the same basis as the original "that" entry?

Does it have to be the same exact spelling or can it sound phonetically identical?

Here, I draw the line. Same spelling is required, not just the same pronounciation. (Though that might make for another interesting puzzle...)

Can we gerund the word, or does it have to be the exact same all the way through?

Ok :D

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my how you've grown.

I know... cheap...

Come on...that's like doing the Billy White Shoes Johnson in the endzone and saying you invented it.

I lay claim to this application of rule #3...

Same spelling. No plurals, derivative forms, or other variations - same exact spelling. On paper, it should appear to be the exact same word.

I took the chair back back back when I was younger.

Who are you Chris Berman?

+ + + + + + + +

If I was to add the number of plusses above, in a sentence, it would read:

Plus, plus plus, plus plus, plus plus, plus plus, plus plus, plus plus, plus plus, equals eight plusses.

Of course, this one has no end either, unless someone screams "Yo Momma" or "Plus infinity!"

Yo, yo' yo-yo is broken!

My last attempt:

Bulls bulls bulls gore gore gore. (?)

(Bulls *that* bulls *that* bulls gore *themselves* gore *themselves* gore)

I think this violates rule two, with self-references.

One of my all-time favorites from a college lecture discussing Rousseau (picture a heavily accented Indian professor):

The general will will will that society...

:D

I do do do do when I sit on the toilet.

This may not fit the rules either, but expanding on digamma's

John's will, will will Will's will to Bob. :)

I am not certain if the Will's is allowed.

If not you can atleast get 4 by saying John's will, will will Will to Bob. :)

This contest is so so...

"What's the bill bill?" Bill asked, in a lame attempt at humor, as he picked up his ballcap from the cleaners following a nasty incident with a seagull.

It is so so so.... so?

Or how about John's good will will, will will Will to Bob. :)

two-thirds, two-thirds, two-thirds, two-thirds, two-thirds, two-thirds, two-thirds is how you answer seven consecutive QS puzzles.

Gay Gay, gay and content one moment, had had enough of the The The album she was listening to, and thought that that band was only so-so, so she put on the Lisa Lisa CD and sat down to watch an episode of Sister Sister.

She's from Walla Walla, right?

Originally, but she was brought up up in Bora Bora. She wanted to go back, back when she got out of Sing Sing (where she, after she was tried, tried being a lesbian for the first time), but she, being so thick-headed, headed to Walla Walla instead.