One Morning I Shot An Elephant In My Pajamas Meaning

One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas meaning Or so i think.

One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas meaning. How he got into my pajamas i ll never know groucho marx. One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas. Wearing my pajamas shot the elephant when you were in your pajamas. How he got in there i don t know this joke has been quoted misquoted parodied and paid homage to many times since then.

One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas. One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas. When you read that first sentence you probably assume that the prepositional phrase in my pajamas is adverbial telling how or under what conditions groucho marx shot an elephant. In the 1930 marx brothers film animal crackers groucho marx tells a joke about an elephant.

When the group of things to which it applies has borderline cases. When a word phrase or sentence has more then one meaning. Animal crackers is a 1930 american pre code marx brothers comedy film directed by victor heerman the film stars the marx brothers groucho chico harpo and zeppo with lillian roth and margaret dumont it was based on their broadway musical of the same name in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed african explorer captain. In this joke the first sentence has two meanings.

A modifier is said to be dangling when the sentence is not clear about what is b. Or one morning an elephant was wearing my pajamas and i shot that elephant. Growing up i even remember hearing a version of it on the pbs kids show arthur. It is structurally ambiguous the ambiguity comes in the phrase in my pajamas does in my pajamas refer to an elephant or i shot.

This is a quote attributed to groucho marx. And we grammar bores ought to be eternally grateful to him for offering us this beautiful example of a dangling modifier. How he got into my pajamas i ll never know. One morning i shot an elephant in my pajamas.

In my pajamas inside your pajamas. The most natural interpretation is the first one. When a word or phrase lacks detail and or specificity. How he got into my pajamas i ll never know.