I've just discovered this rather wonderful poem, by Yuan Ren Chao. Good though it is in English, it's even better in the original Mandarin, ( as follows: )
Other languages are genius. In Spanish you can apparently say 'Como como como, como como como?', which means somethng to do with eating, I forget what. The most we can manage is 'how now brown cow', which isn't the same thing at all. I can't think of a single actual homophone-based phrase in English which makes sense. Maybe 'two tutus' - but even that has an unnecessary S.
There's two problems - one is that while the abbreviation of "the" to "t'" makes sense aurally, it actually tends to hang off the end of the previous word when it's spoken, whereas when you try to write it down, you need to put in an inverted comma to indicate the missing letters, which tends to hang it implicitly off the following word. So, to listen to, it's "trouble att mill", not "trouble at t'mill". I'm now trying to think about whether that 'double t' is different in sound to a single t - sounding each individuals to split syllables, as the Italians do with a double c (eg: capuc/cino).
The other problem is that losing the "s" from "isn't" creates "i'n't" which Just Looks Wrong ;)
It's not an answer to your question, but I think you've created an excuse to link to Wadde Hadde Dudde Da whose verses are reasonably near homophonic and quite entertaining. Well, they amused me, anyway.
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La la la, la la la la-la.
La la la, la la la la-la.
La la la, la la la la-la.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ub0d2WsbG8
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(It isn't in the tin).
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(I)t i(s)n't in t(he) tin
My brain hurts now with trying to parse that!
There's two problems - one is that while the abbreviation of "the" to "t'" makes sense aurally, it actually tends to hang off the end of the previous word when it's spoken, whereas when you try to write it down, you need to put in an inverted comma to indicate the missing letters, which tends to hang it implicitly off the following word. So, to listen to, it's "trouble att mill", not "trouble at t'mill". I'm now trying to think about whether that 'double t' is different in sound to a single t - sounding each individuals to split syllables, as the Italians do with a double c (eg: capuc/cino).
The other problem is that losing the "s" from "isn't" creates "i'n't" which Just Looks Wrong ;)
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died. oh.
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