Confusing headlines and other trips down the garden path

[jal]

Darin, Camera take actor for ‘Truman,’ Ariosa (“’The King of Havana’) actress and Joachim Lafosse (‘White Knights’) director.

Does... not... compute....

That is, it could be a summing of three people, Darin, Ariosa and Joachim Lafosse, the first being a "Camera take actor" (whatever that may be), but why the capital C?


JAL

[hwhatting]

Hint: Camera is the name of an actor here. Talk about aptonyms.

[Salmoneus]

Yup, that was the key for me to decypher it; the other problem is that Variety haven't been taught about semicolons.

[linguoboy]

Woman Found Dead at Home of Toddler Who Was Found in Parking Lot, Police Say

[alynnidalar]

This one, from Variety, genuinely had me utterly baffled to the point of wondering whether the author just couldn't speak English, until I figured it out:

Darin, Camera take actor for ‘Truman,’ Ariosa (“’The King of Havana’) actress and Joachim Lafosse (‘White Knights’) director.

Eesh, that's a sentence and a half. I figured it out, but had to google it to be sure I had the right interpretation.

[Salmoneus]

Much simpler, but still amusing:

New York Jets ship toilet rolls to UK

Important to recognise the verb immediately in that one...

[Mornche Geddick]

There was a book published some time in the 80s (Book of Mistakes) which had a whole chapter of garden path headlines. Examples:

"Strip club shock: Magistrates may act on indecent shows."
"Hotel burns down: 150 guests escape half glad."

[din]

Much simpler, but still amusing:

New York Jets ship toilet rolls to UK

Important to recognise the verb immediately in that one...

Hahaha, I suppose ship toilets are rounder than the ones used in buildings

[Viktor77]

If you're like me and you read headlines quickly looking for something interesting, well this one might throw you off. I read over the apostrophes and capital 'C' of 'cosmos' and added the 'missing' 'the' so I clicked this going what, the fate of the cosmos will be determined within a month?

Neil deGrasse Tyson says fate of 'Cosmos' to be determined 'within a month'

[linguoboy]

From an Economist article on the state of Chicago's schools: "Some saintly public school teachers pay themselves for pencils and notebooks for their pupils because some schools are so underfunded and badly equipped."

[linguoboy]

German Candidate Stabbed By Anti-Immigrant Attacker Elected Mayor

[linguoboy]

Not a garden-path, just a rare stumble from our would-be Paper of Record:

Roman Polanski Won't Be Expedited After Polish Court Rejects US Request

[jal]

Roman Polanski Won't Be Expedited After Polish Court Rejects US Request

Mmmm... I don't think I know what's wrong with that. But then again, I'm not a native speaker. Could you explain?


JAL

[linguoboy]

Roman Polanski Won't Be Expedited After Polish Court Rejects US Request

Mmmm... I don't think I know what's wrong with that. But then again, I'm not a native speaker. Could you explain?

The article is about an attempt to extradite him.

[jal]

The article is about an attempt to extradite him.

Right, of course! Thanks.


JAL

[linguoboy]

This was the first in a series of 2014 hearings by the US interior department about whether it should offer a path to federal recognition to the Native Hawaiian community.

That is a lot of bloody hearings.

[hwhatting]

This was the first in a series of 2014 hearings by the US interior department about whether it should offer a path to federal recognition to the Native Hawaiian community.

That is a lot of bloody hearings.

That's why they say that if you don't want a thing to happen, refer it to a committee.

[Salmoneus]

Sam Burgess says he 'missed his family' after leaving Bath for South Sydney

Seems straightforward. Just means the opposite of what I thought it meant.

[linguoboy]

"support for a monarch-free Australia is higher now than it was 16 years ago when 45% of Australians voted in a referendum against keeping the tie with Britain"

Uncharacteristically bad wording for the Economist here. What they mean is that 45% of those who voted in the referendum voted against keeping the British monarch as head of state, not that only 45% voted at all. (In reality, turnout was 95% of the electorate, which is typical for federal elections in Australia.)

[din]

"support for a monarch-free Australia is higher now than it was 16 years ago when 45% of Australians voted in a referendum against keeping the tie with Britain"

Uncharacteristically bad wording for the Economist here. What they mean is that 45% of those who voted in the referendum voted against keeping the British monarch as head of state, not that only 45% voted at all. (In reality, turnout was 95% of the electorate, which is typical for federal elections in Australia.)

Is it really wrong, though? I immediately read it as:

[...]when 45% of Australians [voted in a referendum] against keeping the tie with Britain.

..., because a referendum's subject would never be formulated as "the referendum against keeping the tie with Britain", because that would be very biased wording. Plus, what people first look for in polling results is not usually turnout.


But I guess you're right; it could have been a lot less ambiguous.

[Hydroeccentricity]

The intended interpretation is fairly clear, but in a newspaper, you probably don't want any alternative possible interpretations because, like Viktor pointed out, people skim headlines quickly.

[linguoboy]

Lori Maddox talks about the night she lost her virginity to David Bowie on the VH1 special hosted by Pamela Des Barres.

[linguoboy]

No garden-pathing here, just a beautiful confluence of tweeness.

Drive-by yoghurt attack on crochet teacher's haberdashery leaves her shaken

[jal]

Drive-by yoghurt attack on crochet teacher's haberdashery leaves her shaken

Shaken yoghurt :).


JAL

[jal]

"My friend has tanned moose hide with the actress who plays Powaqa."

It took me a while to read "tanned" as a verb (from here).


JAL