Language Log

A commenter on FARK noted this headline on the website for KMOV St. Louis:

Infant pulled from wrecked car
involved in short police pursuit

…adding, "No word on how far his short little legs took him before the police caught up with him."

The headline was quickly edited thereafter, and it now reads:

Infant pulled from car after police chase, crash

Victor Steinbok, who brought this to my attention, observes that "the updated headline is only marginally better."

Kazunori Takada and Samuel Shen, "China media train fire on U.S. food giants over chicken scare", Chicago Tribune 1/17/2013:

SHANGHAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Just weeks after Chinese authorities cleared Yum Brands Inc and McDonald's Corp of charges they had served chicken laced with excessive chemicals, local media are again attacking the iconic American firms, while barely reporting on the chances of Chinese restaurants selling similar meat.

Kevin Zurawel writes:

I assumed at first that this was a catastrophic fire taking place on a train filled with Chinese journalists and TV stars, but then realized it was just about bad chicken.

Under the heading "the benefits of paired em dashes, part 57", Mark Swofford sent in the following screen shot from yesterday's New York Times:

Amy Reynaldo spotted this crash blossom currently featured on the home page of the Chicago Tribune:

According to Laura Shack, "Cirencester teenager breaks jaw in alleged attack by kebab van", Wilts and Gloustershire Standard, 9/4/2012:

The 19-year-old man told police officers he was attacked by the van in Tetbury Road, Cirencester, at around 4am on Sunday, August 26.

The teenager, who suffered a broken jaw, was found to be in an intoxicated state by police officers and he was taken by ambulance to Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Link:

"KOMO headline editor, your phrasing needs work," tweeted CJ Alexander regarding this deeply regrettable crash blossom (KOMO North Seattle News, July 11, 2012):

Peter Meilstrup sends in this picture from his local hospital:

SC, a native reader of British headlinese, was baffled by the noun pile-up "Coin change 'skin problem fear'" on the BBC News web site, because he hadn't previously encountered the story.

Nick Edwards, "Analysis: China currency move nails hard landing risk coffin", Reuters 4/14/2012.

"Escaped wallaby caught using huge fishing net", BBC News 4/13/2012:

A wallaby that was on the loose from a fishery near the boundary between Midlothian and the Scottish Borders has been found.

The 2ft Tasmanian wallaby was caught just after midnight using a fishing net after he was spotted feeding on a 40 acre estate.

This item was sent in by Tim McDonald, who wonders "why any wallaby with the intelligence to use a fishing net should have to do so clandestinely".

Last week, I came across what I thought was an artful headline in my local paper (Calgary Herald; 03/21/1012):

Police looking into death by Balzac

What reader wouldn't be lured into dipping further into this article, into wondering what human tragedy or comedy awaits in the finer print? Are we to be treated to the investigation of a lurid, long-unsolved murder committed by one of the fathers of literary realism? A horrible accident involving a tome flung from a high-rise balcony? Someone suffering an asthma attack after reading a suffocating passage of nineteenth-century French prose?