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Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:14 pm
by alice
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:54 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 8:54 am
Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 7:44 am
Is this a garden path, or a perfectly regular English expression that I just haven't heard about yet?
From the
Irish Times:
Car hits pedestrians in Foxrock after mounting footpath
So the car tried to have sex with a footpath?
No, it’s a perfectly normal expression. A vehicle is said to ‘mount’ a footpath or the curb if its wheels go up over the edge of the road.
(More generally, I’d say that the sexual use of ‘mount’ is actually fairly rare. Most of the time it’s just an ordinary verb.)
One thing that comes to mind is
mounting a filesystem.
Where I come from you can also mount ladders, horses, and aerials (on something else), with no sexual connotations at all. Unless you have a dirty mind or some particularly weird kinks.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:17 pm
by bradrn
alice wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:14 pm
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:54 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 8:54 am
No, it’s a perfectly normal expression. A vehicle is said to ‘mount’ a footpath or the curb if its wheels go up over the edge of the road.
(More generally, I’d say that the sexual use of ‘mount’ is actually fairly rare. Most of the time it’s just an ordinary verb.)
One thing that comes to mind is
mounting a filesystem.
Where I come from you can also mount ladders, horses, and aerials (on something else), with no sexual connotations at all. Unless you have a dirty mind or some particularly weird kinks.
You forgot pictures (on walls). And other things too, I’m sure.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2025 5:14 pm
by Man in Space
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:17 pm
alice wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:14 pm
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:54 am
One thing that comes to mind is
mounting a filesystem.
Where I come from you can also mount ladders, horses, and aerials (on something else), with no sexual connotations at all. Unless you have a dirty mind or some particularly weird kinks.
You forgot pictures (on walls). And other things too, I’m sure.
Mounting a challenge, mounting an expedition, mounting an assault, mounting and balancing tires, mounting the TV above the fireplace…
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2025 7:06 pm
by Travis B.
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 5:14 pm
mounting the TV above the fireplace…
Talk about weird kinks...
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2025 2:08 pm
by alice
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:17 pm
alice wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 3:14 pm
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:54 am
One thing that comes to mind is
mounting a filesystem.
Where I come from you can also mount ladders, horses, and aerials (on something else), with no sexual connotations at all. Unless you have a dirty mind or some particularly weird kinks.
You forgot pictures (on walls). And other things too, I’m sure.
Well, I wasn't trying to be comprehensive, or I'd have mentioned stairs and staircases as well.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2025 9:22 am
by Raphael
Content Warning: Sexualized Violence
This isn't really on topic here, because it's not so much confusing or a garden path, and more a "What on Earth were they thinking when they wrote that?"-thing.
From the Irish Times:
Teacher’s conviction for raping a family member affects his fitness to teach, panel hears
No shit?!?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 6:09 am
by bradrn
Driving test touts offer instructors £250 monthly kickbacks
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 9:09 am
by Ares Land
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 6:09 am
Driving test touts offer instructors £250 monthly kickbacks
That's a good one! It took me a while to figure out.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 9:14 am
by bradrn
Ares Land wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 9:09 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 6:09 am
Driving test touts offer instructors £250 monthly kickbacks
That's a good one! It took me a while to figure out.
Yep, me too — I had to look ‘tout’ up in the dictionary to learn that it could be a noun. (I’ve only ever seen it used as a verb before.0
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 10:32 am
by Man in Space
bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 10:27 pm
Man in Space wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 8:00 pm
Travis B. wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 7:57 pm
Are you pulling our legs or not?
I believe there are outside forces acting on our legs.
In just two months I will have ample chance to confirm…
Did you ever figure this out?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 10:36 am
by bradrn
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 10:32 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 10:27 pm
Man in Space wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 8:00 pm
I believe there are outside forces acting on our legs.
In just two months I will have ample chance to confirm…
Did you ever figure this out?
Nope, haven’t visited the University of Edinburgh. (Yet…)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 11:28 am
by Travis B.
One thing from the prior discussion I just noticed is that some of the aforementioned uses of mount just do not work for me. To me mount implies mounting something on something. In my idiolect one climbs rather than mounts things like ladders and stairs. I do recognize that these usages of mount are current in other English varieties though. (There are some exceptions for me though, as for me one mounts a horse.)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 11:44 am
by bradrn
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 11:28 am
One thing from the prior discussion I just noticed is that some of the aforementioned uses of
mount just do not work for me. To me
mount implies mounting something on something. In my idiolect one
climbs rather than
mounts things like ladders and stairs. I do recognize that these usages of
mount are current in other English varieties though. (There are some exceptions for me though, as for me one
mounts a horse.)
I essentially agree with this assessment.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 1:28 pm
by Richard W
To me, mounting a ladder is the first step in climbing a ladder.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 6:03 pm
by Travis B.
Richard W wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 1:28 pm
To me,
mounting a ladder is the first step in
climbing a ladder.
For that I would say
climbing onto a ladder.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 6:07 pm
by Man in Space
I would just say “get on the ladder”. I’d know what was meant if “mount” were used but it’s not the term I would typically use myself.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2025 8:55 pm
by Man in Space
From
WOIO Cleveland 19 News1,2:
City of Akron reveal new city logo
I was taken aback for a second because I wanted to parse “reveal” as a noun. The
pluralis majestatis verb agreement for a city is not customary here—I’d have expected “reveals”, and “reveal” sounds just
wrong to me.
- When did they drop the “Action” from their name?
- And why am I just now noticing it?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 5:46 am
by bradrn
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 8:55 pm
From
WOIO Cleveland 19 News1,2:
City of Akron reveal new city logo
I was taken aback for a second because I wanted to parse “reveal” as a noun. The
pluralis majestatis verb agreement for a city is not customary here—I’d have expected “reveals”, and “reveal” sounds just
wrong to me.
Huh, is it really that rare in US English? To me it’s perfectly normal.
(Also, I wouldn’t call it a
pluralis majestatis — it’s simply that a city council is made up of multiple people. In UK English it’s standard for governments to take plural agreement; in Australian English either is possible.)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 6:50 am
by Lērisama
bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Dec 07, 2025 5:46 am
(Also, I wouldn’t call it a
pluralis majestatis — it’s simply that a city council is made up of multiple people. In UK English it’s standard for governments to take plural agreement; in Australian English either is possible.)
I think in the UK it's that the government as a whole takes plural agreement (because important decisions are supposed to be taken by cabinet as a whole, and even if the PM takes them alone now, the rest of the government has to at least pretend to agree), while individual ministries take singular agreement (because the top minister is supposed to be in charge, even if they delegate some work to junior ministers)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 6:52 am
by bradrn
Lērisama wrote: ↑Sun Dec 07, 2025 6:50 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Dec 07, 2025 5:46 am
(Also, I wouldn’t call it a
pluralis majestatis — it’s simply that a city council is made up of multiple people. In UK English it’s standard for governments to take plural agreement; in Australian English either is possible.)
I think in the UK it's that the government as a whole takes plural agreement (because important decisions are supposed to be taken by cabinet as a whole, and even if the PM takes them alone now, the rest of the government has to at least pretend to agree), while individual ministries take singular agreement (because the top minister is supposed to be in charge, even if they delegate some work to junior ministers)
Huh, interesting.