Confusing headlines

[Pabappa]

The 1,336 lb (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to send the North Tower (Tower 1) crashing into the South Tower (Tower 2), bringing both towers down and killing tens of thousands of people. It failed to do so, but killed six people, one of whom was pregnant and injured over one thousand.

From the lede paragraph of the 1993 WTC bombings article on Wikipedia.

I changed it just now to clarify that the woman was not the one who injured thousands of other people.

[zyxw59]

From twitter's "what's happening" sidebar:

Biden Cabinet picks face confirmation hearings ahead of the inauguration

I initially parsed "picks" as the verb, and was curious about what a "face confirmation hearing" was

[alynnidalar]

That's a textbook garden path right there!

From ABC: Trump clemency list expected to include Lil Wayne, once powerful New York politician

Tell me more about Lil Wayne's political career...

(sadly it appears they've since updated the headline to replace the comma with "and")

[Linguoboy]

Straying into the old under-/overnegation beat trod by Language Log:

NBC 5's Storm Team is tracking the developing storm, though there remains plenty of certainty surrounding the path this system will take.

It’s pretty clear from the remainder of the article that they mean “uncertainty”.

[Linguoboy]

Josh Hawley Draws Fire From GOP Ex-Missouri Senator as Approval Rating Slides (Newsweek)

[Linguoboy]

Dr. Tyler Black is a psychiatrist who specializes in the study of suicide at the University of British Columbia. (CBC)

[MacAnDàil]

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19174 ... lking-ban/
EDL founder Tommy Robinson handed journalist stalking ban

Could have been Tommy Robinson handing a stalking ban to a journalist, turned out to be Tommy Robinson being handed the ban on him stalking journalists.

[Ares Land]

Dévastée par un incendie il y a 2 ans, Roselyne Bachelot annonce une réouverture de Notre-Dame de Paris en 2024.
"Devastated in a fire two years ago, Roselyne Bachelot announces Notre-Dame de Paris will reopen in 2024."

(Mrs Bachelot is fine and thankfully exempt of third degree burns.)

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Hahahahaha. Amusing.

[zompist]

Dévastée par un incendie il y a 2 ans, Roselyne Bachelot annonce une réouverture de Notre-Dame de Paris en 2024.
"Devastated in a fire two years ago, Roselyne Bachelot announces Notre-Dame de Paris will reopen in 2024."

(Mrs Bachelot is fine and thankfully exempt of third degree burns.)

This is pretty neat, because the genders line up. I'd expect French would have fewer sentences of this type because of gender-- e.g. it wouldn't be ambiguous if it was the archbishop announcing this. Would it be bad style though? (English teachers will tell you never to do this in English.)

[Ares Land]

True on both counts: ambiguous sentences of this type are pretty rare, and this is very bad style, if not in fact ungrammatical.

[Linguoboy]

In English, they’re common enough to be designated with a term of art (“misplaced modifier”) and to be regularly covered in writing courses as something to avoid.

[Ares Land]

This falls in French under the general umbrella of solécisme. I don't know if solecism has quite the same meaning in English though?

[Raphael]

From the BBC:

Inside the chemist made entirely out of felt

now apparently corrected to

Inside the chemist's made entirely out of felt

Ah yes - a person made entirely out of felt would have seemed a bit odd.

[doctor shark]

From the BBC:

Inside the chemist made entirely out of felt

now apparently corrected to

Inside the chemist's made entirely out of felt

Ah yes - a person made entirely out of felt would have seemed a bit odd.

Bonus points is that, for a lot of people from a US, a chemist is a chemistry researcher, while a chemist in the more British sense is what I'd call a pharmacist.

[quinterbeck]

From the BBC:

Inside the chemist made entirely out of felt

now apparently corrected to

Inside the chemist's made entirely out of felt

Ah yes - a person made entirely out of felt would have seemed a bit odd.

Bonus points is that, for a lot of people from a US, a chemist is a chemistry researcher, while a chemist in the more British sense is what I'd call a pharmacist.

I know very few Brits who still use the term "chemist('s)" for the local dispenser/ary. They're nearly always called pharmacies nowadays.

[Travis B.]

I know very few Brits who still use the term "chemist('s)" for the local dispenser/ary. They're nearly always called pharmacies nowadays.

Of course, here dispensary commonly refers to someplace one can legally get marijuana and marijuana products.

[quinterbeck]

Of course, here dispensary common refers to someplace one can legally get marijuana and marijuana products.

Now that, I didn't know.

[Linguoboy]

Democrats warn Waters censure move opens floodgates (The Hill)

It’s Waters being censured, not warned.

[alice]

Not a head line as such, but yesterday Boris was described as a "vacuum of integrity". The first thing which came to my mind was a well-constructed hoover.