Confusing headlines

[Qwynegold]

https://twitter.com/NataliaAntonova/sta ... 4328387584

I don't understand what any of this means.

[zompist]

Are you not getting the pic to load or something? If so, it shows an elevator panel with a sign reading "DO NOT CLICK BUTTONS WITH GENITALIA / Cameras are watching. / University of Alabama".

[Yalensky]

I was staring at it for a few minutes trying to decide what "genitalia" could possibly be a typo for before I decided that's literally what they must have meant. Turns out that that's way more intriguing than the syntactic ambiguity!

[Travis B.]

My question was why would you press buttons with your genitalia in the first place?

[Linguoboy]

My question was why would you press buttons with your genitalia in the first place?

Because you can?

[Yalensky]

My question was why would you press buttons with your genitalia in the first place?

Do you really want to touch dirty elevator buttons with your hands during a pandemic?

[Arkasas]

My question was why would you press buttons with your genitalia in the first place?

Look, collegiate men have never been known for their deep intellectual prowess, especially not while under the influence of alcohol.

[Raphael]

This one is not actually confusing; it is, in fact, very bland - what's confusing about it is mainly what led the editors to the decision to run it. From a local paper where I live:

Farmers Harvest Corn

Seriously, when I saw that, I thought, "what's next, a headline about a dog biting a man? Or about the Sun rising in the East in the morning?"

[bradrn]

From an advertisement: Their hunt the roast vegetable sauce

[Travis B.]

From an advertisement: Their hunt the roast vegetable sauce

That's as confusing as Farmers Harvest Corn is banal.

[Raphael]

From the BBC:

France passes new law to protect child influencers

What, a special law to protect people who influence children? Why? Oh, wait, it's a law to protect "influencers" who are underage themselves.

[Ryusenshi]

From the New York Times via Twitter:
Most Patients' Covid-19 Care Bears Little Resemblance to Trump's

Wait, what do the Care Bears have to do with the pandemic??

[Qwynegold]

Are you not getting the pic to load or something? If so, it shows an elevator panel with a sign reading "DO NOT CLICK BUTTONS WITH GENITALIA / Cameras are watching. / University of Alabama".

No, I saw the picture, but couldn't understand what it was supposed to mean. And the comments were of no help. But apparently I was just supposed to take that literally all along.

[zompist]

Are you not getting the pic to load or something? If so, it shows an elevator panel with a sign reading "DO NOT CLICK BUTTONS WITH GENITALIA / Cameras are watching. / University of Alabama".

No, I saw the picture, but couldn't understand what it was supposed to mean. And the comments were of no help. But apparently I was just supposed to take that literally all along.

Norms of all kinds were violated here, so it could be confusing. So: the sign tells us that dudes were using their penises to press the buttons. The garden path interpretation is that the buttons have genitalia.

[Qwynegold]

Norms of all kinds were violated here, so it could be confusing. So: the sign tells us that dudes were using their penises to press the buttons. The garden path interpretation is that the buttons have genitalia.

Oh, okay. And for some reason, at first I was thinking of female genitalia, so that didn't help either.

[Qwynegold]

This is actually tragic, but I saw this headline on TV and thought it could have been phrased slightly differently to avoid a weird interpretation:

At least 7 people killed in Ganja attack tonight

[Torco]

Norms of all kinds were violated here, so it could be confusing. So: the sign tells us that dudes were using their penises to press the buttons. The garden path interpretation is that the buttons have genitalia.

Oh, okay. And for some reason, at first I was thinking of female genitalia, so that didn't help either.

Thanks I now have an image of ladies trying to hump elevator buttons.

[Qwynegold]

You're welcome!

[bradrn]

Premier’s lover fixed pub meeting ministers refused

[Linguoboy]

Lobster catch dropped in N.S. bay in years leading up to launch of Mi’kmaq fishery (Global News)