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Question About Words

G

G4G

New Member
I didn't know where to put this, so I've stuck it here. You know when you have the same word repeated in a sentence, for example "he brought up the breakfast he had had that morning", what is that called?

Thanks.
 
I don't think there's a specific name for what you're looking for.

The construction is pluperfect, but that extends to verbs that don't repeat the same word or form of the word.

And you can also have legitimately repeated words that are not the pluperfect verb form, such as "She was very very lovely."
 
You can give it a name. Maybe no one ever has. Why don't you make one up? Like maybe RELOCUTION.
 
The best known example of this I can remember is the old story of a sign being made for a pub called 'The Dog and Duck' and the signwriter being asked to make sure the spacing is the same between Dog and and and and and Duck!
 
Kenny Shovel said:
The best known example of this I can remember is the old story of a sign being made for a pub called 'The Dog and Duck' and the signwriter being asked to make sure the spacing is the same between Dog and and and and and Duck!
Click to expand...

You beat me to it. I read this in Stephen Fry's Paperweight. I think his pub name was Coach and Horses.
 
Reminds me of THIS one (it really can be done):
Punctuate the following so it makes sense:

Albert while Mary had had had had had had had had had had had the teacher's preference.

I don't get the dog one, by the way.
 
Minniemal said:
Well, now that you've admitted it, so will I. :confused:

:confused: After giving it several seconds of my undivided attention, I've decided just to take your word for it.
Click to expand...
Then, you probably would not enjoy one of my favorite books of ALL TIME:
Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
The reason I bring this book up here, is that Hofstadter goes into some pretty strange linguistic oddities, as we are discussing, and you really need to work to understand his concepts - taking his word for things is no fun at all, in this book.
I had to refer to the book just now, because this thread reminded me of a weird linguistic phemonenon he discusses, and I wanted to get it right. The weird phenomenon is something that he calls "quining". To quine is to have a statement preceeded by its quotation.
Several examples:
"IS A SENTENCE FRAGMENT" IS A SENTENCE FRAGMENT.
"IS NOT THE TITLE OF ANY BOOK, SO FAR AS I KNOW" IS NOT THE TITLE OF ANY BOOK, SO FAR AS I KNOW.
"IS A SENTENCE WITH NO SUBJECT" IS A SENTENCE WITH NO SUBJECT.
 
Kenny Shovel said:
The best known example of this I can remember is the old story of a sign being made for a pub called 'The Dog and Duck' and the signwriter being asked to make sure the spacing is the same between Dog and and and and and Duck!
Click to expand...
This took me a while too - perhaps this will help:
... make sure the spacing is the same between 'Dog' and 'and', and 'and' and 'Duck'!

Libre said:
Albert while Mary had had had had had had had had had had had the teacher's preference.
Click to expand...

I can't get this one, though.
 
Oh. GOT IT! Thanks, kooky.
Here's the solution to the one I posted:
Albert, while Mary had had, "had had", had had, "had". "Had had" had had the teacher's preference.
Takes some thinking about.

Here's a quine I just thought of:
"Has a nice ring to it" has a nice ring to it.
 
Libre said:
Oh. GOT IT! Thanks, kooky.
Here's the solution to the one I posted:
Albert, while Mary had had, "had had", had had, "had". "Had had" had had the teacher's preference.
Takes some thinking about.

Here's a quine I just thought of:
"Has a nice ring to it" has a nice ring to it.
Click to expand...

Even with the quotes I still haven't got a clue. Maybe you've got to be there.:confused:
 
CDA said:
I didn't know where to put this, so I've stuck it here. You know when you have the same word repeated in a sentence, for example "he brought up the breakfast he had had that morning", what is that called?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Gee thanks! Now I'm going to be thinking about this all day! :rolleyes:
 
blueboatdriver said:
Even with the quotes I still haven't got a clue. Maybe you've got to be there.:confused:
Click to expand...
No - you don't have to be there. It is a bit daunting - but, look at it like this:
Suppose both Albert and Mary wrote compositions. Suppose in Albert's composition, he wrote the single "had" and Mary used the double "had had". For example, Albert wrote, "He had breakfast that morning" where Mary wrote "He had had breakfast that morning". Now, read the solution with that in mind. Works for me.
 
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