“so what does ‘hurt people hurt people’ actually mean”

“It’s about the cycle of abuse. Hurt people (people who’ve been hurt) will often hurt people (cause hurt for others).”

“Oh. So it’s like the buffalo.”

“The what? Buffalo have a cycle of abuse?”

“No i mean it’s like the buffalo sentence. The sentence that’s just the word Buffalo repeated eight times. Which you can read as a valid sentence if you use the three different definitions of 'buffalo.’”

“…the wat”

“A bison, or a city in New York, or the verb 'to buffalo’ which is an obscure slang term for 'bully.’”

“…Very obscure. Never heard anyone use that.”

“So it goes like this:

- 'Buffalo buffalo’ are New York bison

- To 'buffalo Buffalo buffalo’ is to bully New York bison.

- 'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo’ are New York bison whom other New York bison bully.

- And 'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo’ means 'New York bison whom other New York bison bully, will also bully New York bison.’”

“…So they do have a cycle of abuse, then.”

“Huh. ….Yeah. Guess so.”

…