"A Piece of Cake"

It was about 1:30 A.M. Ivy ,Sonia’s classmate, entered the room when Sonia were studying.
Ivy: Dear! May I ask you a question?
Sonia: Of course, but Chinese only!
Ivy: Why? It doesn’t make sense!
Sonia: Come on! Give me a break! I’ve spent more than 3 hours learning those boring words by heart. Oh, my goodness! They are almost 200 words!
Ivy: Uh…, I’m hungry. Could you…
( Not waited for her finished, Sonia broke into her talking)
Sonia: Oh! I know. You wanna a piece of cookie not a piece of cake. But, it is a piece of cake for me to give you a piece of cookie.
Ivy: Are you mad?
Sonia: Kind of…. Yes, I think I’m going to be mad! According to Mr. Linguistics, it’s a pun. Mmm…,could it be an ambiguity as well?
Ivy: Who is Mr. Linguistics? What are you talking about ?
Sonia: Mr. Linguistics is the text that we study. And should “a piece of cake” be a pun or an ambiguity?
Ivy: (a bit impatient) I’m sure you are mad.
Sonia: Not only me but also are you crazy. What on earth do you come tome?
Ivy: (angry) It’s you that broke into my talking.
Sonia: Oh! Yes? I’m listening to you now. What’s the matter?
Ivy: Let’s go to 7-11 and get something to eat.
Sonia: A piece of cake!
Ivy: Sure, it is. But I bet you won’t be able to buy a piece of cake at 7-11. We’d better not waste time for chatting so that you can ask Mr. Linguistics “a piece of cake” should be a pun or an ambiguity.
Sonia: Want to bet?
Ivy: For what?
Sonia: What will the cashier react when I say “a piece of cake” to him?
Ivy: I wish he were also an English major and told what you mean. Enough! Stop being hysterical. GO!
Sonia: Am I ?
Ivy: Cut it out! GO!
On the way to the room
Ivy: Did you notice that guy?
Sonia: Who? My eyes adore handsome boys only!
Ivy: The cashier. He got a tattoo on his finger.
Sonia: So what!
Ivy: It’s “Amy”. I guessed it’s his girlfriend’s name.
Sonia: No. According to Mr. Linguistics, it is an “abbreviation”. Amy means “Always miss you” .
Ivy: It sounds cool as well, doesn’t it?
Sonia: No, “miss” means “lose.” So, “AMY” is an “abbreviation” and means “always miss (lose) you”. In short, he lost his love instead of falling in love.
Ivy:……. Are you kidding? Love stories won’t be changed by the definition of linguistics so do the meaning of “a piece of cake”.
Sonia: Ha ha! I am. I haven’t been serious since you come to me.


Linguistics is an interesting subject,but it makes students crazy when one's brain has no space to store vocabularies and definitions. Could an English speaker know English really? Could he or she know "content words and function words" "ruless of word formation" "word coinage" "phrase structure rules" "structural ambihuities" "sentential meaning" and so on?