Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

[jal]

Dan Harmon Acknowledges That He Sexually Harassed Community Writer Megan Ganz in a Seven-Minute Podcast Monologue (Slate)

Where's the confusion? I can parse that without a problem.


JAL

[Axiem]

Dangling participle. Does the "in a Seven-Minute Podcast Monologue" refer to when he did the sexual harassment, or the acknowledgement?

[Vijay]

It can't be a dangling participle if there's no participle, can it? AFAICT it's just syntactic ambiguity of what it's modifying.

[linguoboy]

Dan Harmon Acknowledges That He Sexually Harassed Community Writer Megan Ganz in a Seven-Minute Podcast Monologue (Slate)

Where's the confusion? I can parse that without a problem.

But with what interpretation? Was it the harassment that took place during the podcast or the acknowledgment of it?

[Axiem]

It can't be a dangling participle if there's no participle, can it? AFAICT it's just syntactic ambiguity of what it's modifying.

This is me having the consistent problem of calling this a "dangling participle" even if it's a non-participle modifier that's dangling.

[jal]

But with what interpretation? Was it the harassment that took place during the podcast or the acknowledgment of it?

You're right, I found it so obvious I didn't even think of an interpretation in which the haressment took place during the podcast.


JAL

[Travis B.]

It took me a moment to realise there wasn't a grammatical error in this front-page headline from the Sun:

MARRIED MP BONE'S PHYSIO LOVER

My immediate interpretation was the one without the apostrophe.

[Vijay]

But with what interpretation? Was it the harassment that took place during the podcast or the acknowledgment of it?

You're right, I found it so obvious I didn't even think of an interpretation in which the haressment took place during the podcast.


JAL

I'm honestly curious what it would look like for one person to sexually harass another while recording a podcast monologue. How would that work? Inappropriately fondling someone while recording it? Taking a break in the middle? I mean, I guess you could harass them while recording it, but that would just be stupid. I mean, wouldn't people hear you?

[jal]

I'm honestly curious what it would look like for one person to sexually harass another while recording a podcast monologue. How would that work? Inappropriately fondling someone while recording it? Taking a break in the middle? I mean, I guess you could harass them while recording it, but that would just be stupid. I mean, wouldn't people hear you?

For one, harassment is often verbal, not physical, so that would be easy. Secondly, given the current culture, sexist remarks on a live radio show or podcasts are unfortunately not all that remarkable.


JAL

[mèþru]

French 'MeToo' creator 'faces legal action'
I was confused as to whether the creator was accused by #MeToo or accused someone else.

[Vijay]

I wasn't, I don't think, but I mistakenly thought they meant the French creator of the #MeToo movement, rather than the creator of the French equivalent of the #MeToo movement (French ['MeToo' creator] instead of [French 'MeToo'] creator).

[Qwynegold]

Something I saw on YouTube:
How to groom a cat severely matted

[jal]

How to groom a cat severely matted

I always groom my cat while matted!


JAL

[alynnidalar]

From somebody talking about working at an animal sanctuary:

"We brought water to empty bowls by buckets."

The intended meaning:

More: show

The hoses to fill water bowls for the animals were frozen, so they had to carry water in buckets.

[Vijay]

How to groom a cat severely matted

I always groom my cat while matted!


JAL

I always groom my nonexistent cat severely!

[Ryan of Tinellb]

<nsfw>

One of my favourite lines in Jennifer Fallon's "Demon Child Trilogy" / "Hythrun Chronicles" is in Treason Keep:
"...he promised, as her shirt fell away, exposing her glorious pale breasts. They fell onto the scattered cushions beside the brazier."

It reminds me of this clip from "Look Who's Talking Too.

[jal]

"...he promised, as her shirt fell away, exposing her glorious pale breasts. They fell onto the scattered cushions beside the brazier."

That's the most corny crap I've read in a long time... "glorious breast"??? Come on...


JAL

[Salmoneus]

Wonderful syntax exacerbated by unfortunate breaking, from the beeb. Sadly they've updated the story now.

Italy's Macerata in drive-
by gun attack

[Salmoneus]

Cheating a bit, because this isn't exactly an ambiguity, just a ridiculously bad, potentially misleading phrasing.

I saw a form in which the form-filler-outer* had to say whether they were OK with a statement of facts. The two options given were:

Yes there are not any inaccuracies
No, factual inaccuracies exist

While both options are grammatically unambiguous (if only thanks to punctuation), even I had to read those over three times to be sure which was which, and I'd have hated to have to be the one filling it out in a hurry and knowing that a lot might rest on ticking the right box.... the only reason I don't suspect that they're intentionally confusing is that I can't see any reason why that would be in anyone's interest.





*huh. There's no word "former" or "formee"...

[Salmoneus]

Another from a form:

The [item] is as visible as required by regulations

The actual intended meaning would require additional commas...

And while we're here, this semantic ambiguity (from the beeb) is pretty obfusctatory without context:

A Valentine's card for a wife costs £2, despite looking remarkably similar to one for a husband, priced at £2.50

[jal]

A Valentine's card for a wife costs £2, despite looking remarkably similar to one for a husband, priced at £2.50

Even without context, which I think is either implicit or quite clear, I think this is pretty good parsable? Or do you think anyone would mistaken the price for a husband to be 2,50?


JAL

[KathTheDragon]

The [item] is as visible as required by regulations

The actual intended meaning would require additional commas...

Could you elaborate?

[Soap]

I think it's unclear whether the husband has to pay more to get the card or whether the wife has to pay more to get it for him.

[linguoboy]

The [item] is as visible as required by regulations

The actual intended meaning would require additional commas...

Could you elaborate?

I'm guessing that "as visible" should be set off. Or I could be wrong and the regulations really do specify visibility.

[zompist]

The [item] is as visible as required by regulations

I may be missing something... this seems awkward but not difficult. I take it as meaning that regulations require [item] to be visible, and there are minimums for 'visibility', and the product has met the minimum.

It'd sound better to me with an extra is: "The [item] is as visible as is required by regulations." Though honestly I'd just rewrite it: "The [item] is as visible as regulations require", or "The [item] meets visibility regulations."