Borders Borders borders borders Borders’ borders.

Let’s imagine there’s a Borders bookstore (I know, blast from the past) near the Four Corners, where Colorado and New Mexico and Arizona and Utah meet. And let’s imagine that the locals refer to this store as “borders Borders,” meaning the Borders that is near the state borders. And let us further imagine that right across a state line from this Borders is another Borders, which is also (confusingly) called “borders Borders.” And let’s say these two Borders are so close that their edges actually touch. Then this sentence would make perfect sense.

“Borders Borders borders borders Borders’ borders.”

Which can be parsed as…

[borders Borders] [borders] [borders Borders’] [borders]

to mean…

[the bookstore near the Four Corners] [is adjacent to] [the (other) bookstore near the Four Corners’] [edges]

Not quite “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo,” but getting there.

Brian Hurley

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