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If I was describing to a shop sign image creator a Fish and Chip shop sign by its individual symbols, I might say to the shop sign image creator:

Please can I have the symbols for: fish, 'fish' and and, '&' and chips, 'chips'?

That conversational sentence contains four 'and' words in a row albeit by using the word 'and' instead of 'ampersand' to say the symbol '&'. Can more than four 'and' words in a row exist in a conversational sentence?

Matthew London
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    If you were speaking that sentence, you'd say "ampersand" for the "&" symbol. Even if you did say "and" in its place, the "&" is not functioning as a conjunction. – KillingTime May 01 '21 at 11:13
  • @KillingTime, I don't think "and" can be used as a conjunction even just twice in immediate succession. Any examples I've seen of multiple "and"s are either naming the word rather than using it ('between "and" and "and"'), or repeating for emphasis ('please wash your mugs after use, AND AND AND put them back in the cupboard'). – tea-and-cake May 01 '21 at 11:22
  • @Edwin Ashworth, 'and' can't be used as a conjunction in immediate succession however as in your example 'and' can be used several times in immediate succession (but not as a conjunction). – Matthew London May 01 '21 at 13:42
  • You could ask this over at [puzzling.se] – Mitch May 01 '21 at 18:03
  • You want a pony and a monkey and a squirrel and a rabbit and a kitten... and, and, and, and, and- it’s never enough for you... – Jim May 01 '21 at 18:07
  • That's an interesting example Jim but I would assert that "and" isn't functioning as a conjunction there, you're mentioning the word but not using it per se. (If it's acting as a conjunction, what phrases is each instance joining?). If we're just mentioning the word, then both your construction, and Peter Shor's, can be used to create a sequence of however many "and"s you want, without limit. – tea-and-cake May 01 '21 at 19:32
  • Kinda silly, but “ “And”, “and” and “and”.... and And needs it tomorrow.” where somebody named And is marrying someone named And and has a friend handling their wedding cake, which says, “And&And” but the friend is explaining to the cake maker that it should say “And and And” – Ron Kyle May 01 '21 at 20:20
  • @tea-and-cake - Perhaps they are conjunctions and I’m just eliding the rest – Jim May 01 '21 at 21:14

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I've seen a version of this with five "and"s; here is my reconstruction of it from memory:

You painted this sign for me, but you need to repaint it. The spaces between Fish and and and and and Chips are not the same size.

Peter Shor
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    Seems that "and" is not as buffalo-ish as "buffalo" – Hagen von Eitzen May 01 '21 at 11:05
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    This can go on indefinitely of course! In your answer, I think, for clarity, you could maybe use double-spaces between '"fish"' and 'and', and 'and' and '"and"', and '"and"' and 'and', and 'and' and '"and"', and '"and"' and 'and', and 'and' and '"chips"'...! – tea-and-cake May 01 '21 at 11:14
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    @HagenvonEitzen "buffalo" is quite US- (and maybe Canada-?) specific anyway. To UK ears, "buffalo" only really means the big beast. Seeing the word with an initial capital would trigger us, after a bit of thought, to recognise it as the name of a US city. The verb sense of the word is pretty much unknown in the UK. That said, the specific phrase "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is not unknown amongst those sorts of people interested in things like that, but it's very niche! – tea-and-cake May 01 '21 at 11:26
  • It's more usual to depict 'words used as words', ie the 'mention usage', in italics, if I remember correctly. << There should be commas between Coach and and, and and and Horses. >> – Edwin Ashworth May 01 '21 at 11:52