Confusing headlines

[Risla]

Powerful antibiotic discovered using machine learning for the first time

[Raphael]

Powerful antibiotic discovered using machine learning for the first time

Oddly enough, the BBC had their own interesting headline about apparently the same story:

Scientists discover powerful antibiotic using AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51586010

[Linguoboy]

New Social Security rule limits access to non-English speakers (The Hill)

[zyxw59]

New York state confirms first coronavirus case: Governor Cuomo

More: show

Governor Cuomo is not the person with coronavirus

[alynnidalar]

Oh that's a good one.

[Pabappa]

Fox News and http://israelheadlinenews.com/:

FALLEN JEWISH AMERICAN WORLD WAR LL SOLDIERS, POWS FINALLY TO BE BURIED UNDER STAR OF DAVID
The only thing thats confusing is how they let such an obvious typo slip by. Going to the original site on Fox, https://www.foxnews.com/world/wwii-jewi ... star-david , the text appears normal and no one would guess that the II was spelled with lowercase L's. But for some reason the other site that quotes them uppercased the entire headline and the L's are quite obvious.

Also I want to post my current sig, since I'll be removing it soon. This is more of a classic garden path type sentence although it was not the headline:

Senate Republicans also did not muster the 60 needed votes to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill protecting babies born alive through botched abortions sponsored by Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.

[bradrn]

Not a headline, but a particularly unfortunate sentence from an article:

Mr Greer has travelled across the Australian outback many times and has learned how to find water holes, follow tracks and make rudimentary weapons from Indigenous people leading traditional lives in the country's most remote areas.

As one commenter put it: ‘Making rudimentary weapons from Indigenous people is immoral and illegal. We must stop this!’

[Qwynegold]

Mr Greer has travelled across the Australian outback many times and has learned how to find water holes, follow tracks and make rudimentary weapons from Indigenous people leading traditional lives in the country's most remote areas.

As one commenter put it: ‘Making rudimentary weapons from Indigenous people is immoral and illegal. We must stop this!’

Lol, that's good. Unfortunately I only have this to offer:
Rían Huorin vaimo eli Hadorin kansan keskuudessa [...]

Which I interpreted as:
Rían Huor-in vaimo eli Hador-in kansa-n keskuud-essa
PR₁ PR₁-GEN wife that.is.to.say PR-GEN people-GEN among-INE
Rían Huor's wife, i.e. among Hador's people ...huh?

When it was supposed to be:
Rían Huor-in vaimo el-i-0 Hador-in kansa-n keskuud-essa
PR₁ PR₂-GEN wife live-PST-3SG PR-GEN people-GEN among-INE
Rían, wife of Huor, lived among the people...

[Glass Half Baked]

Not a headline, but from the top of an article on Korean Covid-19 policy (emphasis mine):

"The [South Korean] government announced Friday that it was suspending a visa waiver program for Japanese citizens from March 9, in retaliation to Japan's decision to tighten entry restriction on people traveling to the neighboring country from Korea."

It took me a few moments to figure out what "the neighboring country" was. It really sounded to me like they were talking about a third country. I think there was a thread on this forum some time ago about the circumstances in which these kinds of descriptive replacements can occur.

"Susie was unhappy because the girl was very unpopular at school."
* "Susie didn't understand why everyone at school hated the girl."

[bradrn]

Not a headline, but from the top of an article on Korean Covid-19 policy (emphasis mine):

"The [South Korean] government announced Friday that it was suspending a visa waiver program for Japanese citizens from March 9, in retaliation to Japan's decision to tighten entry restriction on people traveling to the neighboring country from Korea."

It took me a few moments to figure out what "the neighboring country" was. It really sounded to me like they were talking about a third country. I think there was a thread on this forum some time ago about the circumstances in which these kinds of descriptive replacements can occur.

"Susie was unhappy because the girl was very unpopular at school."
* "Susie didn't understand why everyone at school hated the girl."

I agree that this is incredibly confusing. In fact, for me, neither of the examples you gave are particularly acceptable; I would only use them in a highly colloquial context, if at all.

[Linguoboy]

East vs. West: Coronavirus Fight Tests Divergent Strategies (WSJ)

Grubhub Won’t Collect $100 Million From Restaurants To Help During Coronavirus Struggle (Blockclub Chicago)

[Raphael]

Not confusing, but somewhat amusing if you speak both English and German - from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Oberweis wins chance to take on Underwood in 14th Congressional District

[Risla]

Governments and companies race to make masks vital to virus fight

[bradrn]

A beautifully ambiguous headline:

Man charged with murder after allegedly attacking victim in bed with guitar

Did the victim have the guitar, or was that the murderer? Amazingly enough, the corresponding article doesn’t disambiguate this (although it strongly implies that it was the murderer who had the guitar).

EDIT: Rereading the article, it almost certainly looks like it was the murderer who had the guitar: ‘… he allegedly struck another man over the head with a guitar’ (although you could make the case that this is still slightly ambiguous).

[KathTheDragon]

I have to really force out the "... attacking [victim in bed with guitar]" reading. "... attacking [victim in bed] with guitar" is the only natural one for me.

[akam chinjir]

I have to really force out the "... attacking [victim in bed with guitar]" reading. "... attacking [victim in bed] with guitar" is the only natural one for me.

Maybe "...attacking victim in [bed with guitar]"? Like, there are two beds, and only one of them has a guitar.

EDIT: Rereading the article, it almost certainly looks like it was the murderer who had the guitar: ‘… he allegedly struck another man over the head with a guitar’ (although you could make the case that this is still slightly ambiguous).

It's pretty easy for me to get the reading where the victim has two heads and only one of the heads has a guitar, I guess.

[bradrn]

I have to really force out the "... attacking [victim in bed with guitar]" reading. "... attacking [victim in bed] with guitar" is the only natural one for me.

Funny, with me the first interpretation is just as natural.

I have to really force out the "... attacking [victim in bed with guitar]" reading. "... attacking [victim in bed] with guitar" is the only natural one for me.

Maybe "...attacking victim in [bed with guitar]"? Like, there are two beds, and only one of them has a guitar.

And I suppose that this is yet another interpretation! I didn’t think of this one, actually.

EDIT: Rereading the article, it almost certainly looks like it was the murderer who had the guitar: ‘… he allegedly struck another man over the head with a guitar’ (although you could make the case that this is still slightly ambiguous).

It's pretty easy for me to get the reading where the victim has two heads and only one of the heads has a guitar, I guess.

Is ‘heads’ a typo here?

[akam chinjir]

Is ‘heads’ a typo here?

I was going for the reading "struck another man over [the head with a guitar]"---as opposed to the head without the guitar.

[Raphael]

From the BBC:

UK using 1.2 billion tonnes of material a year

Not necessarily confusing, once you understand that by "material", they mean "physical objects that are consumed by the economy in one way or another", but it sounds a bit like something out of either the Onion or Yes Minister.

[bradrn]

Here’s another one, with the exact same ambiguity as my previous submission:

Video shows thief stole van Gogh painting with sledgehammer

It’s funny that they seem to be making this same mistake over and over again…

(If you want to know, it was the thief who had the sledgehammer.)