Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

Torco · Post by **Torco** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 2:32 pm

Lesbian Vampire Killer Doll-Set

How about a doll that kills lesbians that are also vampires - match?

ol bofosh · Post by **ol bofosh** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:20 pm

Now even Chucky can look on in fear.

Qwynegold · Post by **Qwynegold** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:44 am

treegod wrote:"Men raped more than women in the US"

What I saw first was... "Men (have) raped more than (just) women in the US".

OMG it's triply ambiguous!

Torco · Post by **Torco** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:24 am

Qwynegold wrote:
treegod wrote:"Men raped more than women in the US"

What I saw first was... "Men (have) raped more than (just) women in the US".
OMG it's triply ambiguous!

antriguous ?

tezcatlip0ca · Post by **tezcatlip0ca** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:15 pm

Torco wrote:
Qwynegold wrote:
treegod wrote:"Men raped more than women in the US"

What I saw first was... "Men (have) raped more than (just) women in the US".
OMG it's triply ambiguous!
antriguous ?

Way to continue the "eleven-twelve" thread.

Torco · Post by **Torco** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:04 pm

in fairness, the joke was right there, staring at me with wide-eyed expectation.

hwhatting · Post by **hwhatting** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:12 am

Declan wrote:I have that problem with a German TV series whose precise German name I can't think of but is something like: "Name und ihre Moerder", which always makes me feel as though the person in the title is the murderer.

I assume you're English L1 and you associate Mörder with "murder"? That's the only way I could arrive at your interpretation. The German is ambiguous, but only between "Adelheid and the murderers she deals with" (the intended meaning) and "Adelheid and the persons who murdered her" (i.e., Adelheid being the victim).
BTW, I liked that series. I always had a soft spot for Evelyn Hamann since her days with Loriot. A pity that both are gone now.

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:13 pm

Joshua Landis wrote:Manaf Tlass's father and brother, Firas, who is a leading businessman, are believed to be out of the country.

Interesting family structure they have...

Soren · Post by **Soren** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:04 am

linguoboy wrote:Language Log has an all-time classic today: "Sack rape row Clarke - Miliband".

There's a nice one in the comments to that post:

Slough sausage choke baby death woman jailed
A woman who fed a nine-month-old baby a piece of sausage, despite being told not to by the boy's mother, has been jailed after he choked to death.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10241928

(Slough is a town)

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:15 pm

US mourns Batman shooting victims

ol bofosh · Post by **ol bofosh** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:32 pm

Batman did what???

Shrdlu · Post by **Shrdlu** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:40 pm

At least he went the whole night without robin.

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:43 pm

treegod wrote:Batman did what???

US media outlets and Wikipedia are referring to this as the Aurora Shooting after the town where it took place. But that headline was from the BBC,and that name would say nothing to UK readers. For the same reason, I'm seeing mostly "Batman-Massaker" in the German press.

clawgrip · Post by **clawgrip** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:50 pm

Lake Park man allegedly obsessed with Fox News, GOP is in jail after threats made to girlfriend

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:17 pm

Not a garden path, but a confusing headline all the same: Canada Dollar Declines as Central Bank Maintains Rate, Language.

Bob Johnson · Post by **Bob Johnson** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:52 pm

China Ferrari sex orgy death crash

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:05 pm

Bob Johnson wrote:China Ferrari sex orgy death crash

That looks like it drew its inspiration from Google search logs.

Thry · Post by **Thry** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:07 pm

Well, he reached the little death (or not so little) xD

clawgrip · Post by **clawgrip** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:51 pm

That headline looks like it's just a random list of words.

Bob Johnson · Post by **Bob Johnson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:05 am

Cash-Poor Sharp Mortgages Display Factories

much easier with regular capitalization

masako · Post by **masako** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:56 am

Illegal monkey living on Frosted Flakes bites woman

hwhatting · Post by **hwhatting** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:08 am

sano wrote:Illegal monkey living on Frosted Flakes bites woman

Where's the garden path in this headline?

Thry · Post by **Thry** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:59 pm

It's not like it's not something typical and usual, at all; I in fact always carry some illegal monkeys just I case I come across a lady and have no other thing to throw at them.

Salmoneus · Post by **Salmoneus** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:00 pm

The legendary one that I've mentioned before: "Drive to Ban Horse Whipping Mushrooms!" - apparently from the Dominion Post in New Zealand.

Another that I can't find online, because I think it was quickly changed to something less bizzare (but you can still find the news story if you want to verify it): "Argentina drug subs brain arrest".

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:05 pm

Liberman just posted in Language Log about "Fish foot spa virus bombshell" from last year's Sun. Still no China Ferrari Sex Orgy Death Crash, but it is all-noun all the time.

zompist bboard

Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

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