NLP Problems Illustrated

Prepositional Phrase Attachment

Wizard of Id cartoon by Brant Parker. Text reads 'May I try on that lovely blouse in the window? What are you, an exhibitionist?'. Click on image to go to cartoon's home page

Word Sense Disambiguation

Rhymes With Orange cartoon by Hilary B. Price. Text reads 'If you want to lose 50 pounds in 12 months, eat less and exercise more. If you want to lose 50 pounds in 12 minutes, play poker in England.' Click on image to go to cartoon's home page.

The Dark Side of Machine Translation

Sylvia cartoon by Nicole Hollander. Text reads 'Dear Cat Lady, I recently learned of a Japanese product that purports to translate the language of cats. Should I buy one, or would you consider this an invasion of privacy? Cat Lady Responds... When John Poindexter wanted to monitor your internet purchases, was it an invasion of privacy? You betcha! Luckily cats can switch easily among a number of dialects and confound any electronic device.' Click on image to go to Sylvia's home page.

Grice

Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet cartoon by Peter Zale. Text reads: 'You know, Spencer... our relationship is a tenuous thing... It might end at any moment. No, it cannot. Really? Are you sure? Absolutely. For example, it cannot end at 5pm during the Renaissance.' Click on image to go to cartoon's home page

Ellipsis

Mutts cartoon by Patrick McDonnell. Text reads 'All-knowing sphinx, my owner doesn't understand me, does yours? I doubt it, she's never even mentioned your name.' Click on image to go to cartoon's home page
Ambiguity

Baby Blues cartoon. Text reads: 'Mom says you need some help with your homework. Yeah, we are supposed to color the rectangles yellow and color the circles blue. So what is the problem? (Looking at a giant box of 244 crayons) It does not say which yellow or which blue.' Click on image to go to cartoon's home page

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