Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 11:41 am

It took me a while to come up with an interpretation that would make sense to me, namely something like "when you make something out of fish, it never spoils," even though that isn't true.

Viktor77 · Post by **Viktor77** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 6:17 pm

I think Le Soir should stick to being a French newspaper.

This text has been written by Béatrice Delvaux, senior writer for « Le Soir », a few time after the double terrorist attacks that killed more than 30 people in Brussels.

« Le Soir » publishes this text in English, as we believe those words are universal.

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:38 pm

Well...if we can include awkward-sounding English here, then this isn't a headline, but it sure is confusing! It's a YouTube comment for a really weird (13-minute-long) Indian movie

one's legnet your's hasbend's after every house wife crying

after your's all waiys is clouse

but one waiy wait in your life that is your ded

so dont be legnet your life and your hasbend life

yours hasbends all waiys needid in your life long

so beecearfull in your life disejans

I think it's trying to warn housewives not to cheat on their husbands. Maybe it means something like: "Every housewife starts crying when they're negligent about their husbands, after all ways are closed off to them and the only way out of such a life is death. So don't be negligent about your life and your husband's life. You need your husband for your whole life, so be careful with the decisions you make in your life."

Viktor77 · Post by **Viktor77** » Sat May 21, 2016 8:36 am

This CBS headline is a great example of how you can spin something:: "House Rejects Amendment That Would Have Curtailed Religious Freedom." I can also do it, CBS, hey look "House Rejects Amendment That Would've Curtailed LGBT Discrimination."

Post by **zompist** » Fri May 27, 2016 2:08 am

Saw this on twitter, so no cite.

Headline: "California bill to allow people to free hot dogs".

jmcd · Post by **jmcd** » Fri May 27, 2016 6:34 am

This headline (Free hot dogs! California bill would allow it) is perhaps slightly clearer but still disappointingly unclear. All the hobos of California should be up in arms.

faiuwle · Post by **faiuwle** » Sat May 28, 2016 9:19 pm

If anything, that one is misleading and zompist's is the one that has only one interpretation (even though "hot dogs" still tripped me initially).

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:50 pm

No garden path, but just some funny headline: "Colombian soccer player charged with battery in Miami". Original from Twitter, article itself now says "arrested for battery".

JAL

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:20 pm

faiuwle wrote:If anything, that one is misleading and zompist's is the one that has only one interpretation (even though "hot dogs" still tripped me initially).

But "hot" can also have more than one meaning!

faiuwle · Post by **faiuwle** » Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:22 pm

Oh god, I don't want headlines about either spicy or sexually attractive dogs.

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:30 pm

What about just very popular dogs?

faiuwle · Post by **faiuwle** » Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:48 am

I guess that would work. On that note, though, I don't think I've ever seen that meaning for "hot" outside of newspaper/magazine headlines. Or at least, I'd feel really weird using it.

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:17 am

Really? "Spicy mustard, you are hot tonight!" (Okay, that's a bit different in the reference I'm thinking of, I guess, but still, definitely a related meaning).

But yeah, I'd probably feel weird about using it that way, too.

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:04 pm

Won Holds Slide as Brexit Angst Lingers (Bloomberg)

alynnidalar · Post by **alynnidalar** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 8:50 am

Y'know, I even googled the article that's from, and I'm still not completely clear what the headline means.

More: show

finlay · Post by **finlay** » Thu Jun 16, 2016 10:34 am

I thought that was German.

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:28 am

My dad had the opposite problem when he bought me a Dutch newspaper (Algemeen Dagblad) once when passing through Amsterdam. One time, he saw a newspaper article on our table in the family room with a headline that began with "Spanning in Portadown," all three of which seemed like perfectly good English words, and didn't realize that it was this one until he saw that the rest of the headline was "loopt op." I also pointed out that the same thing could have happened with the weather forecast for the day, which began with "Wind: machtig tot krachtig."

jal · Post by **jal** » Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:51 am

That would be "matig" :)

linguoboy · Post by **linguoboy** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 11:52 am

Chicago Tribune: Condo associations careful about collecting can weather foreclosures

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 12:04 pm

I read that headline like seven times and I still have no idea what the second half of it means.

EDIT: Wait, so 'can' is a modal verb, and 'weather' is a verb?

alynnidalar · Post by **alynnidalar** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 12:25 pm

I think so. That's a good one, took me several reads to get it.

jal · Post by **jal** » Wed Jun 29, 2016 3:30 am

Indeed. Didn't know "wheather" is also a verb. Merriam-Webster to the rescue. At first I could only parse it as foreclosures of can wheathers, and the collecting thereof.

JAL

Zju · Post by **Zju** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 3:51 pm

Mutilated body washes up on Rio beach to be used for Olympics beach volleyball

hwhatting · Post by **hwhatting** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:10 pm

Zju wrote:
Mutilated body washes up on Rio beach to be used for Olympics beach volleyball

One can take recycling too far...

Qwynegold · Post by **Qwynegold** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 10:20 am

Not quite what this thread is about, but it's funny. I read about Heron Island, and one headline said "Known shipwrecks on the reef". The next headline said "Voyager spacecraft". First I interpreted that as a subheading, and was thinking like "A spacecraft has crashed on to the reef?!!"

zompist bboard

Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

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