misha supernatural

They’re basically a literary prank– the sentence starts out in such a way that you think you know where it’s going, but the way it ends completely changes the meaning while still being a complete and logical sentence. Usually it deals with double meanings, or with words that can be multiple parts of speech, like nouns and verbs or nouns and adjectives.

So we get gems like

The old man the boat. (The old people are manning the boat)

The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families. (The apartment complex is home to both married and single soldiers, plus their families)

The prime number few. (People who are excellent are few in number.)

The cotton clothing is usually made of grows in Mississipi. (The cotton that clothing is made of)

The man who hunts ducks out on weekends. (As in he ducks out of his responsibilities)

“Yeah and here, it looks like Italy is a boot!”

“A boot?”

“Oh, it’s a like… A big shoe.”

“Ohh ok, ha yes! I can see that!”

“But look, it also looks like France is a lion and is eating the boot.”

“You humans sure love to do that.”

“Do what?”

“See things, but make them visible first. Like the stars.“

“Oh you mean the constellations? Yeah it’s just a thing we do to do, personification or like anthropomorphing, I can’t remember which.”

“I find it very interesting. My species do not do that. When you show me the const-…”

“Constellations.”

“Constellations, yes. When you show me those or the Italy boot, I only see it until you point it out.”

“What?! So you’ve never looked at your planet and tried to see what things your geography make?”

“No never.”

They pull up a detailed satellite view of their planet.

I am stunned into silence.

The winding coastlines, the vast mountain ridges, the dots of civilization clashing with nature…

The same image is repeated all over the planet.

In stunning detail, in all shapes and sizes, me and the alien, 69ing, at least 6 times.