Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The quote plays on the double meaning of like to contrast how time passes versus how fruit flies eat.
- In plain terms
- Time moves fast like an arrow; fruit flies like eating bananas.
- What can you take from it?
- Language uses puns to create humor through ambiguity.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do words shape our perception of reality?
- Why is wordplay popular?
Another view
The joke relies on a specific homonym that may not translate.
More from Groucho Marx
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
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