I liked this:
This sentence is interesting in that if you say the sentence seven times, each time placing the emphasis on a different word, the meaning of the sentence shifts.
Try it…
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
- I Didn’t Say You Stole My Money.
My thanks to Schwern at geek2geek for the example, written about here.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Niall Larkin // Feb 4, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Nice one. Also shows how many options an actor or actress has in reinterpreting a script.
2 P M Harris // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:41 am
Similarly, “Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me” by The Goodies.
3 links for 2008-02-06 « tangled web // Feb 6, 2008 at 7:11 am
[...] The power of emphasis in language: “I didn’t say you stole my money†| confused of calcutta (tags: blogs) [...]
4 Dominic Sayers // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:31 am
He he. The Goodies thing works by removing words from the sentence, IIRC.
“Father Christmas do!”
Thanks for the memory, PM Harris :-) Those were the days - you wouldn’t get away with it now.
5 Yannis // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Too true, and a typical example of how using email as the typical tool for most or all of one’s work interactions can be dangerous.
Just change the sentence above to “I didn’t say you missed the project deadline”, imagine it in an email chain forwarded around and consider all the possible permutations of misunderstandings and problems hindering the creation of good working relationships.
6 One problem with emails (and blogs, too) | The Next Engine: Beyond Campaign Thinking // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:52 pm
[...] Confused of Calcutta writes today about the importance of emphasis. That’s something easy to do verbally, but not easy to do in written form without using tricks like making the type bold or italicized. Having had the tonality of my emails misunderstood in the past, I know exactly what he’s writing about. [...]
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