Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
Encyclopedia
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana," is a saying, often interpreted humorously, that is used in linguistics
as an example of a garden path sentence
and syntactic ambiguity
, and in word play
as an example of pun
ning, double entendre
, and antanaclasis
.
A fairly common variant is, "Time flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana." The semicolon is sometimes replaced by a full stop, or the second half may be preceded by the word but. Some versions have bananas instead of a banana.
. This translation is misleading to the modern English speaker, because the Latin fugit did not mean fly in the sense of aviation, but in the sense of flee (cf. "fugitive"); in modern English to say "fly" when meaning "flee" would be unusual. However, this does not seriously affect the perceived intention of the metaphor in practice.
An early example of a pun with the expression "Time flies" may be found in a 1930 issue of Boys' Life:
In that form it had already appeared in discussions on linguistics and later in discussions on the feasibility of computer-based linguistic work, but by the mid 1960s the elaboration "time flies like an arrow" appeared in related contexts as an example of syntactic ambiguity
. The saying is sometimes attributed to Groucho Marx
, but according to The Yale Book of Quotations
there is no reason to believe Groucho actually said this. Instead, it traces the quote to a 1982 post on the Usenet
group net.jokes. However, the juxtaposition of the phrases "time flies like an arrow" and "fruit flies like a banana" appears already in the 1960s as an example of the problems in having computers understand natural language. An early appearance in print, in slightly modified form, is from 1965:
A more prominent and elaborate example involving bananas appeared in Scientific American
in September 1966, a single-topic issue on information and computing, in an article on "The Uses of Computing in Science" by Anthony G. Oettinger. The material was published in book form shortly afterwards. This prompted the following response by Edison B. Schroeder of IBM, printed in the correspondence column of Scientific American, November 1966, page 12 (first and last verses only).
The full text is quoted at A Scientist and the Web
The verse has been variously anthologized as a specimen of didactic humor trading on syntactic ambiguity
. Like the poem The Chaos
, by Gerard Nolst Trenité, it is popular among practitioners and students in fields such as natural language processing
and linguistics
.
, the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time.
It is also used as an example of pun
ning. The wordplay is based on the distinct meanings of the two occurrences of the word flies (the verb "travel through the air
" and the noun for certain insects
), and of the word like (the preposition "similarly to" and the verb "enjoy"). For example, the second clause can be read as "fruit travels through the air similar to a banana" or as "certain insects enjoy a banana".
This is an example of a garden-path sentence, a phrase that the reader or listener normally begins to parse according to one grammatical structure, and is then forced to back up and reparse when the sentence ends in an unexpected way.
.
In this connection the phrase is often seen as part of the elaboration: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
".
Although contemporary English speakers unambiguously understand the phrase to mean "Time flies in the same way that an arrow does" (i.e. the common metaphor time
goes by quickly), it could also mean:
These variations are popular examples of difficulties of natural language processing
by computers.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
as an example of a garden path sentence
Garden path sentence
A garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that the readers' most likely interpretation will be incorrect; they are lured into an improper parse that turns out to be a dead end. Garden path sentences are used in psycholinguistics to illustrate the fact that...
and syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing...
, and in word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
as an example of pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
ning, double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
, and antanaclasis
Antanaclasis
In rhetoric, antanaclasis is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.-Examples:...
.
A fairly common variant is, "Time flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana." The semicolon is sometimes replaced by a full stop, or the second half may be preceded by the word but. Some versions have bananas instead of a banana.
History
The expression is based on the proverb: "Time flies", a translation of the Latin Tempus fugitTempus fugit
Tempus fugit is a Latin expression meaning "time flees", more commonly translated as "time flies". It is frequently used as an inscription on clocks...
. This translation is misleading to the modern English speaker, because the Latin fugit did not mean fly in the sense of aviation, but in the sense of flee (cf. "fugitive"); in modern English to say "fly" when meaning "flee" would be unusual. However, this does not seriously affect the perceived intention of the metaphor in practice.
An early example of a pun with the expression "Time flies" may be found in a 1930 issue of Boys' Life:
- Flies Around
- Scoutmaster: Time flies.
- Smart Tenderfoot: You can't. They go too fast.
In that form it had already appeared in discussions on linguistics and later in discussions on the feasibility of computer-based linguistic work, but by the mid 1960s the elaboration "time flies like an arrow" appeared in related contexts as an example of syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing...
. The saying is sometimes attributed to Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
, but according to The Yale Book of Quotations
The Yale Book of Quotations
The Yale Book of Quotations is a quotations collection that focuses on modern and American quotations and claims a high level of scholarship and reliability. Edited by Fred R. Shapiro, it was published by Yale University Press in 2006 with a foreword by Joseph Epstein, ISBN 978-0-300-10798-2...
there is no reason to believe Groucho actually said this. Instead, it traces the quote to a 1982 post on the Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
group net.jokes. However, the juxtaposition of the phrases "time flies like an arrow" and "fruit flies like a banana" appears already in the 1960s as an example of the problems in having computers understand natural language. An early appearance in print, in slightly modified form, is from 1965:
A more prominent and elaborate example involving bananas appeared in Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
in September 1966, a single-topic issue on information and computing, in an article on "The Uses of Computing in Science" by Anthony G. Oettinger. The material was published in book form shortly afterwards. This prompted the following response by Edison B. Schroeder of IBM, printed in the correspondence column of Scientific American, November 1966, page 12 (first and last verses only).
-
- Time Flies Like an Arrow
-
-
- An Ode to Oettinger
-
- Now thin fruit flies like thunderstorms,
- And thin farm boys like farm girls narrow;
- And tax firm men like fat tax forms -
- But time flies like an arrow!
-
-
- .....
-
- Like tossed bananas in the skies,
- The thin fruit flies like common yarrow;
- Then's the time to time the time flies -
- Like the time flies like an arrow.
-
-
-
-
- Edison B. Schroeder 1966
-
-
-
-
The full text is quoted at A Scientist and the Web
The verse has been variously anthologized as a specimen of didactic humor trading on syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing...
. Like the poem The Chaos
The Chaos
"The Chaos" is a poem which demonstrates the irregularity of English spelling and pronunciation, written by Dutch writer, traveller and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité , also known under the pseudonym Charivarius...
, by Gerard Nolst Trenité, it is popular among practitioners and students in fields such as natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
Use in linguistics
The saying is used as a linguistic example of antanaclasisAntanaclasis
In rhetoric, antanaclasis is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.-Examples:...
, the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time.
It is also used as an example of pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
ning. The wordplay is based on the distinct meanings of the two occurrences of the word flies (the verb "travel through the air
Flight
Flight is the process by which an object moves either through an atmosphere or beyond it by generating lift or propulsive thrust, or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement....
" and the noun for certain insects
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster is a species of Diptera, or the order of flies, in the family Drosophilidae. The species is known generally as the common fruit fly or vinegar fly. Starting from Charles W...
), and of the word like (the preposition "similarly to" and the verb "enjoy"). For example, the second clause can be read as "fruit travels through the air similar to a banana" or as "certain insects enjoy a banana".
This is an example of a garden-path sentence, a phrase that the reader or listener normally begins to parse according to one grammatical structure, and is then forced to back up and reparse when the sentence ends in an unexpected way.
Analysis of the basic ambiguities
"Time flies like an arrow," is an English phrase often used to illustrate syntactic ambiguitySyntactic ambiguity
Syntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing...
.
In this connection the phrase is often seen as part of the elaboration: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana," is a saying, often interpreted humorously, that is used in linguistics as an example of a garden path sentence and syntactic ambiguity, and in word play as an example of punning, double entendre, and antanaclasis.A fairly common variant is,...
".
Although contemporary English speakers unambiguously understand the phrase to mean "Time flies in the same way that an arrow does" (i.e. the common metaphor time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
goes by quickly), it could also mean:
- measure the speed of flying insects like you would measure that of an arrow (thus interpreted as an imperative) - i.e. (You should) time flies as you would (time) an arrow
- measure the speed of flying insects like an arrow would (this example is also in the imperative mood)- i.e. (You should) time flies in the same way that an arrow would (time them)
- measure the speed of flying insects that are like arrows - i.e. (You should) time (those) flies (that are) like an arrow
- all of a type of flying insect, "time-flies," collectively enjoy a single arrow (compare Fruit flies like a bananaTime flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana," is a saying, often interpreted humorously, that is used in linguistics as an example of a garden path sentence and syntactic ambiguity, and in word play as an example of punning, double entendre, and antanaclasis.A fairly common variant is,...
below) - each of a type of flying insect, "time-flies," individually enjoys a different arrow (similar comparison applies)
- the common metaphor "time," moves in a straight path
- the magazine TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, when thrown, moves in a similar manner to that of an arrow. - time flees (attempts to escape) in the same way that an arrow does.
These variations are popular examples of difficulties of natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
by computers.
See also
- Tempus fugitTempus fugitTempus fugit is a Latin expression meaning "time flees", more commonly translated as "time flies". It is frequently used as an inscription on clocks...
- List of linguistic example sentences
- Natural language processingNatural language processingNatural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
- Sentence processing
- Syntactic ambiguitySyntactic ambiguitySyntactic ambiguity is a property of sentences which may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, or reasonably interpreted to mean more than one thing...
- AntanaclasisAntanaclasisIn rhetoric, antanaclasis is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.-Examples:...
- AmphibologyAmphibologyAmphibology or amphiboly is an ambiguous grammatical structure in a sentence. -Examples:*Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive...
- ParaprosdokianParaprosdokianA paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax...
- PerverbPerverbA perverb , also known as an anti-proverb, is a humorous modification of a known proverb, usually by changing its ending in a way that surprises or confounds the listener....