It's a part-of-speech joke. I've always thought it was hilarious, but I'm a grammar nut. The "punchline", if you will, is that the same exact words in the same exact order can mean very different things and be entirely different parts of speech with just one tiny change to the sentence. Time flies like an arrow -- Time does fly the way an arrow flies. Fruit flies like a banana -- Fruit-flies are fond of bananas.
Precisely the same sentence structure but almost every word has changed to a different part of speech or a different usage of the word. And each sentence can be read with the other's structure for a laugh. time traveling flies which land on arrows. Fruit sailing through the air not unlike a banana. And both sentences can be read as if the flies and the arrow/banana are running laps with stopwatches.
Re: I GET IT
The "punchline", if you will, is that the same exact words in the same exact order can mean very different things and be entirely different parts of speech with just one tiny change to the sentence.
Time flies like an arrow -- Time does fly the way an arrow flies.
Fruit flies like a banana -- Fruit-flies are fond of bananas.
Precisely the same sentence structure but almost every word has changed to a different part of speech or a different usage of the word. And each sentence can be read with the other's structure for a laugh. time traveling flies which land on arrows. Fruit sailing through the air not unlike a banana.
And both sentences can be read as if the flies and the arrow/banana are running laps with stopwatches.