two recent discoveries
which led to two more recent discoveries
- If you say “apple pie” over and over and over again really fast, it sounds like you’re saying “papaya” (over and over again really fast)
- If you say “papaya” over and over and over again really fast, it sounds like you’re saying “pineapple” (over and over again really fast)
See the diagrams below:
fig. 1:
…applepieapplepieapplepie…
[sounds like]
…papayapapayapapaya….
fig. 2:
…papayapapayapapaya….
[sounds like]
…pineapplepineapplepineapple…
The double-arrows, of course, represent the “sounds like” relationship. I really wanted to use this photo in the diagrams:
“sounds like…” depicted by Laurence Fishburne | from the “Charades” chapter of “The Celebrity Party Games Handbook”
…but I wasn’t sure how to go about obtaining permission to use Mr. Fishburne’s likeness here on fantasticdrivel. So I stuck with the double-arrows.
the first more recent discovery
which is actually the second most recent discovery
The discoveries in fig. 1 and fig. 2 made me wonder: is there a transitive relationship at work here?
An example of a transitive relation:
If a = b and b = c, then a = c.
In other words, if you say “apple pie” over and over and over again really fast, does it sound like you’re saying “pineapple” (over and over again really fast)?
The answer is yes. It does.
In fact, you can effectively “morph” among the three sounds (apple pie, papaya, and pineapple) by deliberately enunciating or slurring certain syllables. It took me a little practice, but I can now move among the words almost seamlessly. Try it.
fig. 3: by transitive relation
…applepieapplepieapplepie…
[sounds like]
…papayapapayapapaya….
[sounds like]
…pineapplepineapplepineapple…
etc.
the second more recent discovery
which is actually the first most recent discovery
Oh, one more thing I discovered: it’s best to try this out sometime when you aren’t around other people. Strangers might just look at you funnily, but friends will no doubt tell you to shut up. And that really ruins the magic of the whole thing, At least it does for me.
sometimes, less is more