11 had's

hhh · 2007-10-12, 18:32

Code:

John where Jane had had had had had had had had had had had a better impression on the teacher

Unfortunately, in the above text, all the non-letter signs have been lost. You know, the !"§$%&/()=?`*'_.,-stuff. Please fill them in, but no new letters nor words, and use the spoiler-environment. H.

Wacky · 2007-10-12, 19:03

John, where Jane had had "had had", had had "had". "had had" had had a better impression on the teacher.

or, reversing John and Jane,

John, where Jane had had "had", had had "had had". "had had" had had a better impression on the teacher.

or, if you will allow me to capitalize one "h",

John, where Jane had had "had", had had "had had". Had "had had" had a better impression on the teacher?

hhh · 2007-10-12, 19:53

Fast. Had you had heard the "had had"- solution before, or did you find it all alone?

Wacky · 2007-10-12, 20:50

I generated the solution based on experience parsing sentences many decades ago when I did Linguistics Research. I have also seen other puzzles that are solved in a similar manner, but not involving just one word.

petrw1 · 2007-10-12, 21:21

I first heard this same puzzle many, many years ago.
But Wacky saw it first.

wblipp · 2007-10-13, 14:33

Recently I heard a longer series of repeated words about bison from a city in New York bullying other such bison. I found the buffalo sentence more contorted, though, while this classic "had" sentence seems straight forward.

Mini-Geek · 2007-10-13, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by wblipp

Recently I heard a longer series of repeated words about bison from a city in New York bullying other such bison. I found the buffalo sentence more contorted, though, while this classic "had" sentence seems straight forward.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo...uffalo_buffalo
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" = "Buffalo bison whom other Buffalo bison bully themselves bully Buffalo bison" = "Buffalo^c buffalo^a Buffalo^c buffalo^a buffalo^v buffalo^v Buffalo^c buffalo^a." (with c for the city "Buffalo", a for the animal "buffalo", and v for the rarely-used verb "buffalo", meaning to bully, or intimidate)

davieddy · 2007-10-13, 19:47

Yes. Contrived, and the word doesn't even occur consecutively.

retina · 2007-10-14, 20:47

8 buffalo's in a row, a play on different meanings of the same word again, similar to the "all prime numbers are odd" puzzle. Curious how the English language allows for such interesting occurrences.

2007-10-12, 18:32	#1
hhh Jun 2005 175₁₆ Posts	11 had's Code: John where Jane had had had had had had had had had had had a better impression on the teacher Unfortunately, in the above text, all the non-letter signs have been lost. You know, the !"§$%&/()=?`*'_.,-stuff. Please fill them in, but no new letters nor words, and use the spoiler-environment. H.

2007-10-12, 19:03	#2
Wacky Jun 2003 The Texas Hill Country 3²×11² Posts	John, where Jane had had "had had", had had "had". "had had" had had a better impression on the teacher. or, reversing John and Jane, John, where Jane had had "had", had had "had had". "had had" had had a better impression on the teacher. or, if you will allow me to capitalize one "h", John, where Jane had had "had", had had "had had". Had "had had" had a better impression on the teacher? Last fiddled with by Wacky on 2007-10-12 at 20:34 Reason: Part of response got lost

2007-10-12, 19:53	#3
hhh Jun 2005 373 Posts	Fast. Had you had heard the "had had"- solution before, or did you find it all alone? Last fiddled with by Wacky on 2007-10-12 at 20:32 Reason: Add Spoiler

2007-10-12, 20:50	#4
Wacky Jun 2003 The Texas Hill Country 2101₈ Posts	I generated the solution based on experience parsing sentences many decades ago when I did Linguistics Research. I have also seen other puzzles that are solved in a similar manner, but not involving just one word.

2007-10-12, 21:21	#5
petrw1 1976 Toyota Corona years forever! "Wayne" Nov 2006 Saskatchewan, Canada 4695₁₀ Posts	I first heard this same puzzle many, many years ago. But Wacky saw it first.

2007-10-13, 14:33	#6
wblipp "William" May 2003 New Haven 2×7×13² Posts	Recently I heard a longer series of repeated words about bison from a city in New York bullying other such bison. I found the buffalo sentence more contorted, though, while this classic "had" sentence seems straight forward.

2007-10-13, 19:47	#8
davieddy "Lucan" Dec 2006 England 2×3×13×83 Posts	Yes. Contrived, and the word doesn't even occur consecutively.

2007-10-14, 20:47	#9
retina Undefined "The unspeakable one" Jun 2006 My evil lair 13·479 Posts	8 buffalo's in a row, a play on different meanings of the same word again, similar to the "all prime numbers are odd" puzzle. Curious how the English language allows for such interesting occurrences.