Zompist Bboard Again

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 4:22 am Rechte Ungeimpfte werden beschnitten (Bild)

If they really wrote that (a quick googling didn't turn up that wording), that's not an ambiguous headline - it's wrong wording / grammatically wrong; for the reading "Rights of unvaccinated will be curtailed" it should be Rechte Ungeimpfter werden beschnitten.

hwhatting wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:38 am

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 4:22 am Rechte Ungeimpfte werden beschnitten (Bild)

If they really wrote that (a quick googling didn't turn up that wording), that's not a misleading headline - it's wrong wording; for the reading "Rights of unvaccinated will be curtailed") it should be Rechte Ungeimpfter werden beschnitten.

I assume they went back and corrected it. A German friend shared a screenshot of this version in his timeline. (Could have been photoshopped, but he's generally good about verifying those sorts of things.)

As you probably know, BILD is a tabloid lots of people love to hate, so I'm always a bit wary of alleged bloopers ascribed to it. But it may well be genuine. That will certainly be grist on the Querdenker rumour mill.

Seen in a reference list: ‘On being possessed’.

(If you really must know: Steele 1977, Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 3: 114–31.)

New police CCTV use rules criticised as bare bones.

BBC News:

California man sues after being startled by dumpster-diving bear

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58250366

Turns out the man is suing a condominium company for, in his opinion, not doing enough to make the dumpster in question bear-proof. When I first saw the headline, I thought "What, a man is suing a bear?"

It's an odd headline, but I didn't read it ambiguously at all.

Thousands Mysteriously Wash Up in OR

No, not people ... thankfully .... but sand dollars. Apparently the headline writer was in a hurry, or perhaps they just didnt have room for three more words in their text area.

BBC: "Greenland island is world's northernmost island - scientists"

They're actually talking about an island off the coast of Greenland. I hate that people have stopped using the adjectival form of place names. I should revive the linguistic pet peeves thread from the previous board.

From our friends at the BBC:

Prince Andrew’s team dispute claims accuser served legal papers

Not entirely in good taste... Spotted in several headlines: Chad junta leader.

I knew there were some female pretenders this time, but that's a surprise

Senate Drops Report On Trump’s Use Of DOJ To Stay In Power. This suggests that "drop" and "table" are close to antonyms, both of each other and across the Atlantic.

White man avoids arrest after shooting dead Moroccan immigrant (Independent)

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 1:22 am Crown caned over $10m payout for ousted executives

OK, I am confused - what is that supposed to mean?

hwhatting wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:52 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 1:22 am Crown caned over $10m payout for ousted executives

OK, I am confused - what is that supposed to mean?

Not a clue. I suspect they’re trying to use ‘caned’ for ‘punished’ (Crown is a casino which has been involved in some dodgy things), but that would still be decidedly odd. Here’s the article if you wish to try interpreting the headline yourself.

EDIT: Re-reading the article, I begin to suspect they’re trying to allude to the fact that Crown has received a ‘second strike’ — hence, a caning. But it’s still very, very strained.

Australia is close to southeast Asia, where (at least in SIngapore), corporal punishment is a primary means of punishment for theft and some other crimes. This includes Australian tourists. It may be that the mental image of caning as punishment is more established in Australia than in other English speaking countries even if Australia doesnt itself use caning as punishment. There may be some headlinese at play, too, in that shorter words tend to predominate even though it's a digital newspaper and space isnt limited as it would be in print.

@bradrn, Pabappa, thanks!