15 Jun
2020
15 Jun
'20
10:49 a.m.
VE: "Not directly related, but here are two fine examples showing how even parts of speech can be ambiguous: 'Time flies like an arrow.' 'Fruit flies like a banana.' Generally recognized as a contribution of Anthony Oettinger on the subject of grammar by computer (~1963), it has been difficult apparently to find 1960s quotations of the two concept sentences juxtapositioned. As recently as 2010, quote investigator Garson O'Toole had it happen only "by 1982". I had a go at it last month and found two relevant articles, the earlier one by Edmund Berkeley in November 1966 (although he used peach instead of banana). http://gladhoboexpress.blogspot.com/2020/05/time-flies.html