Mr X of The Royal Magazine? Boys’ Life Magazine? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A linguistic puzzle asks the reader to correctly punctuate the following sentence:
Time flies you cannot they pass at such irregular intervals.
A similar puzzle asks the reader to punctuate this sentence:
Time flies you cannot they go too quickly.
Most readers are familiar with the idiom “time flies” which highlights the perception that time passes quickly, but that semantic interpretation is misleading when analyzing the sentences above. Here is one possible solution for each sentence:
Time flies; you cannot; they pass at such irregular intervals.
Time flies; you cannot; they go too quickly.
The word “flies” corresponds to the insects. The word “time” refers to measuring the speed of the insects. Would you please explore the history of this puzzle?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In January 1903 “The Royal Magazine” in London, England published the first sentence, and asked readers to interpret it. The puzzle was posed by the pseudonymous “Mr. X” who also asked readers to supply more brain-twisters. Boldface added to excerpts bi QI:1
Time flies you cannot they pass at such irregular intervals.
is a very clever catch sentence.
Mr. X is making a collection of puzzling sentences, and will be glad to hear from readers who know of any good ones.
The following month the magazine printed the answer. The interpretation of the phrase “time flies” diverged significantly from its traditional meaning:2
Time flies; you cannot; they pass at such irregular intervals.
(“Time,” of course, being used in the sense of timing a race, and “flies” being the well-known summer insects.)
Based on these citations, the puzzle was popularized by Mr. X. It is possible that Mr. X created this brainteaser. Alternatively, this item was already in circulation and the creator remains anonymous.
Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.
Image Notes: Picture of a stopwatch from Stanos at Unsplash. The image has been retouched and cropped
Acknowledgement: This topic was encountered by QI during the research on the quip “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana”. Understanding the ambiguity of the phrase “time flies” is helpful when examining both of these topics.
- 1903 January, The Royal Magazine, Volume 9, Number 51, Mr. X — His Pages, Cryptic Sentences, Quote Page 299, Column 1, C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., London, England. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1903 February, The Royal Magazine, Volume 9, Number 52, Mr. X — His Pages, Notes About Puzzles in Previous Issues of The Royal, Cryptic Sentences, Quote Page 391, C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., London, England. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎