October 27, 2018 @ 6:44 pm · Filed by Neal Goldfarb under Crash blossoms, Headlinese, Snowclones
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New York Times, October 26, 2018:
October 27, 2018 @ 6:44 pm · Filed by Neal Goldfarb under Crash blossoms, Headlinese, Snowclones
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Marian said,
October 27, 2018 @ 7:45 pm
Absolutely how I read it. Perhaps primed by your headline, but still.
LOL black deficit balloons to celebrate McConnell's birthday party
Simon Wright said,
October 28, 2018 @ 4:01 am
Is "safety net" being used as a verb in that headline? or an adjective?
Rick Rubenstein said,
October 28, 2018 @ 4:19 am
I read this several times completely unable to come up with an erroneous parsing — and then realized the interpretation I had was in fact the erroneous one. The similarity to the contextually appropriate "trial balloons" sucked me in beautifully.
KevinM said,
October 28, 2018 @ 10:20 am
How many deficit balloons? 99? Also, do you get safety net by subtracting risk from safety gross?
Robert Coren said,
October 28, 2018 @ 11:17 am
@Simon Wright: It's being used as an adjective — "safety net programs" -> programs providing a safety net. If I were using it this way I'd put in a hyphen.
("Look to" in this context means "consider modifying [i.e., gutting]".)
chris said,
October 28, 2018 @ 8:28 pm
For non-USAns not overly familiar with our politics, it may help to know that "safety net" is a common term for programs that have aid to the poor as a major goal (because they are intended to make it so an economic "fall" won't kill you), and McConnell and his party are always looking for a reason to cut them.
Vulcan With a Mullet said,
October 29, 2018 @ 8:47 am
Deficit balloons might be a good way to harness the power of governmental hot air…
Just floating the suggestion.
BZ said,
October 29, 2018 @ 12:19 pm
I think "deficit balloons" is enough of a journalistic cliche in the USA that everyone would understand a headline like this. In fact, when I read the title of the post, that was my initial reading of "deficit balloons" and the "are" made me go back and re-evaluate.
번하드 said,
October 30, 2018 @ 9:53 am
The problem with news isn't limited to headlines.
Today at the BBC: (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46027355)
"A former nurse has admitted murdering 100 patients during the first day of his trial, making him one of Germany's worst post-war serial killers."
dainichi said,
October 31, 2018 @ 1:55 am
Of course, this wouldn't have been a problem in languages (like, say, other Germanic languages) that don't have spaces in the middle of their words =). Also note that the ambiguity would not be there (or at least be easier to avoid) in speech, since "balloons" as a verb receives full stress, but only secondary stress as part of a compound noun.