Comments on: A report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:04:00 +0000

Lost track of which report reports on the report about reporting about which report. By the third word of the sentence.

But the true champion remains, to this day, the Ground Nuts Law:
In the Nuts (Unground) (Other than Groundnuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than groundnuts, as would, but for this Amending Order, not qualify as nuts (Unground) (Other than Groundnuts) by reason of their being nuts (Unground).

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:40:00 +0000

It looked as if somebody needed the help.

But the about (iteration/recursion) wasn’t intended as an actual application but as a concretised abstraction (not quite the same thing) – and that should always get a laugh.

Perhaps you had to be there.

By: NingunA

NingunA — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Just to speak clearly, the nice folks at GAO aren’t “feds” as that term is typically used by Feds themselves. GAO is an arm of Congress, the legislative branch. Feds, as is usually understood among gov’t types, work for agencies of the Executive branch. Feds are generally self-aware concerning their bureaucratic nature. GAO think of themselves as “watchdogs” but can be a source of some of the most head-to-desk, harebrained ideas ever.

By: austinhamman

austinhamman — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:23:00 +0000

i think they wanted to send someone, but they had to elect a committee to decide the electoral process for a committee to designate a representative to the committee to elect a person to go accept the award, assuming of course that the committee to decide if the award should be accepted is put together in time by the committee set up to decide how that committee should be created.
the process should go quickly and take only 10-20 years.

By: austinhamman

austinhamman — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:19:00 +0000

about:about in firefox…

By: Cherish Hellfire

Cherish Hellfire — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:58:00 +0000

At least their being accountable. lol.

By: rtresco

rtresco — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Who knew the govt was so meta.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:21:00 +0000

You cheated. You paraphrased.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Or you might write a book “About about”, concerning the word ‘about’. Then somebody might review it. Then somebody might review the review. And I may wish to talk about that. Which I just did.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 17:28:00 +0000

Some natural languages may be non-recursive (depending on who you choose to believe) and therefore have a finite set of possible sentences of finite length. I cannot think how they would deal with about about about about about, as unlike with relative clauses I can see no easy way to divide all the abouts into separate sentences which refer back to each other. I suspect they might just say WTF and forget it.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Reuters had – The U.S. Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a report recommending the preparation of a report to discuss the impact of reports about reports.
Where did the missing reports go? We need a report.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Aww, c’mon. You’re making fun of the one thing that language is great at? That we can talk about about about about about ….

By: arsphenamine

arsphenamine — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:04:00 +0000

The Ig Nobel prize ceremony was historically held near the Nobel Prize ceremony date 10/07 or 10/08. Wassup with holding it on 9/20?

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:40:00 +0000

“This is your receipt for your husband, and this is my receipt for your receipt.”

By: s2redux

s2redux — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:12:00 +0000

“Don’t quote me regulations. I co-chaired the committee that reviewed the recommendation to revise the color of the book that regulation’s in. We kept it gray!”

By: chgoliz

chgoliz — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Close, but they haven’t bested “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” yet.

By: Tim Drage

Tim Drage — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:20:00 +0000

no Xzibit image macro? :)

By: kmoser

kmoser — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:00:00 +0000

That’s ridiculous. Everybody knows that before writing any reports you need to elect a committee to elect a committee to elect a committee to investigate the feasibility of writing a report.

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:36:00 +0000

The feds didn’t send anyone to accept.

I imagine they’re rather bored with stealth Republicans making fun of the work that they do…

By: danielroseman

danielroseman — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:16:00 +0000

Pretty sure this was an episode of Yes Minister.