04 May 2009

"I didn't say she stole my money"

That sentence can mean seven different things depending on which word in the sentence is stressed:

I didn't say she stole my money - someone else said it

I didn't say she stole my money - I didn't say it

I didn't say she stole my money - I only implied it

I didn't say she stole my money - I said someone did, not necessarily her

I didn't say she stole my money - I considered it borrowed, even though she didn't ask

I didn't say she stole my money - only that she stole money

I didn't say she stole my money - she stole stuff which cost me money to replace

Explanation and discussion at the link as well as at this Reddit thread; both also explain that this phenomenon can occur with almost any sentence and that it varies from language to language

1 comment:

  1. When I was a trainer (for a cell phone tech support call center), I used to do the same exercise, only with a slightly different sentence:

    "I didn't say you were stuck-up."

    Effective way of demonstrating the problem with intonation (and sarcasm).

    Heather

    ReplyDelete

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