The Quickest Way to Campus is the Negative Railroad

Unintended ambiguity: the Bastiat Free University.

Yeah, I know, strictly speaking I suppose there’s no real ambiguity; the presence or absence of a hyphen will determine pretty clearly in which sense it should be taken. But then there’s still an ambiguity when you say it aloud ….

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2 Responses to The Quickest Way to Campus is the Negative Railroad

  1. David Gordon March 10, 2008 at 9:20 pm #

    Should this sort of ambiguity be sanctioned?

  2. William H. Stoddard March 11, 2008 at 12:58 am #

    I don’t think the ambiguity is a problem, even in speech. It can be resolved by where you put the pause:

    Bastiat [pause] Free University
    Bastiat Free [pause] University

    After all, the progression from two words to a hyphenated compound to a closed up compound reflects the shift in pronunciation as the use of a phrase becomes increasingly habitual.

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