Tuesday, February 08, 2022

Comparative illusion

 Wikipedia

In linguistics, comparative illusions (CIs) or Escher sentences are certain comparative sentences which initially seem to be acceptable but upon closer reflection have no well-formed meaning. The typical example sentence used to typify this phenomenon is More people have been to Russia than I have.

c.f. Frank Sullivan's wolf sentences:

  • This is the best salad I ever put in my whole mouth.
  • It was a heck of a party, everyone in the room was there.
  • I've got more money than I can afford.

As I consider them whole new vistas are opening up behind me*.

* My first attempt at one of my own.

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