A vague sentence or ambiguous sentence is unclear. It has more than one possible interpretation.
At my bakery where I work, my co-workers and I tend to check out cute girls. Actually, that would consider as a vague sentence. I meant examining attractive females, not checking out as commiting suicide or scanning them (technically).
Few days ago, my co-worker asked me “Did you see the hot girl with the phone?”
This question has two clear interpretations. This ambiguity occurs from the phrase “with the phone”. This phrase may change the subject, you, or the object, the girl.
The possible interpretations could be:
“Did you see the hot girl who is holding the phone?”
“Did you see the hot girl by using the phone?”
“Did you see the hot girl who is using the phone?”
Even though I understood what my co-worker was saying, I couldn't identify which girl. There were many girls who were holding the phone at my workplace. I couldn’t tell which girl my co-worker was talking about.
Copyright © yoyoyo 82
2 comments:
I just totally cracked up laughing when I finished reading this post. "hot girl" and "phone" are probably the worst combinations during a conversation. Especially in public places such as San Francisco where people are all casually walking down the street or waiting for the bus. I absolutely hate it when my guy friends tell me that there is a "hot girl". I understand that it's a mainstream thing to call girls "hot" but really there's only two thoughts that pop into my head when I see them together.
1. it's butchering the human language by not using proper adjectives to describe a girl
2. it's disrespectful because you're judging a girl by how she looks. Heck, she probably has 10lbs of make up on her face. Or she's had a bad morning. Endless possibilities.
OK, I'm starting to get carried away. This would end up being a 1,500 word essay.
End of rant.
Now, "phone" here is just totally descriptive. Just about everyone has a phone clutched to their hands at all times. And really, you can't bother noticing and mentioning what she's wearing instead? I'm sure clothes or bag are easier to make out than a "phone"
Oh my gosh, you work at a bakery? That's so wonderful. OMG. :D I have always wanted to be able to work in one. I'm sure (and completely hope) it's an amazing working experience.
What you did there with the "hot girl with the phone"--I totally see it, man. From what I've seen lately, if you're by yourself or waiting on something, or whatever the situation may be, people tend to whip out their phones to pass the time. So by your co-worker saying that, it is essentially almost like the "Hey, man, did you see that girl with the face?" type of idea that it could essentially be any single person in the room that they're talking about. Even with that, what your co-worker might deem "hot" might possibly not be your perspective of "hot", which can complicate things even more, especially when you may have a limited amount of time to find this said person. My friend always does this vague "omg look at that person they are ~gorgeous~" and I'm left frantically trying to find this flawless specimen in a room full of people as quickly as I can.
An awesome, hilarious example. ^_^
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