pi.hi.y pi.hi.y (Grice's Hopi)

Speranza

After Ziff.

Ref.:

Whorf, Language, Thought and Reality, p. 114.

International Phonetic Association.

By uttering "pi.hi.y pi.hi.y", Utterer U meant that p.

On being inducted into the army, George is compelled to take a test to establish sanity. George is known to be an irritable academic. The test he is being given would be appropriate for morons. One of the questions asked is "What would you say if you were asked to identify yourself?". George replied to the officer asking the question by uttering:

"pi.hi.y pi.hi.y"

Perversely speaking in Hopi, George meant by the utterance "pi.hi.y pi.hi.y" (and what he said) was that he didn't know.