Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana.

>----------
>From:  Jeff Kell[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent:  Tuesday, October 21, 1997 7:53 PM
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject:       Re: [HP3000-L] Off-topic: 40th anniversary of Sputnik
>
><snip>
>One more practical example from the early AI days was:
>
>   "Time flies like an arrow."
>
>Analyzed syntactically, this can result on a few meanings, for example:
>                    noun   verb    prep.     obj.p.
>(a) The passage of <time> <flies> <like> an <arrow>.
>                 adj.    noun                       verb
>(b) The insects "<time> <flies>" have an affinity (<like>) for arrows.
>                                verb   obj
>(c) When determining airspeed, <time> <flies> in a similar manner
>(<like>) you would measure <an arrow>.
>
>I've always thought this one of the better examples of the difficulty
>imposed on any natural language recognition by the ambiguous nature of
>the syntax and semantics of language.
>
>Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>