Wrack and ruin
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The Northeast Regional, on its way from Philadelphia to New York City, derailed a couple of hours ago in North Philly. At least five people are dead, and many injured. This is a train that I've taken a hundred times.
One of the first things that I saw in the live online coverage was this grimly appropriate tweet:
Jeremy Wladis of NYC was on the last car: "There were women launched up in the luggage wrack. I don't even know how they got there."
— Tricia L. Nadolny (@TriciaNadolny) May 13, 2015
"Luggage wrack" could be a grimly appropriate joke, in keeping with MW's definition of wrack:
1 a : a wrecked ship b : wreckage c : wreck d dial : the violent destruction of a structure, machine, or vehicle
But there are lots of luggage wracks out there, and also clothes wracks and dish wracks and so on.
Adam F said,
May 13, 2015 @ 4:31 am
Is misspelling by adding silent letters a kind of hypercorrection?
Yuval said,
May 13, 2015 @ 4:40 am
Wradical!
Neil Dolinger said,
May 13, 2015 @ 6:59 am
Maybe Mr. Wladis pronounces his name with a silent 'W'.
Joseph F Foster said,
May 13, 2015 @ 7:19 am
The soft mutation of gwrack it is?
Tyro said,
May 13, 2015 @ 8:51 am
Given that "launched" was probably meant be "lodged"…yeah, probably not wordplay.
kevinm said,
May 13, 2015 @ 10:24 am
@Tyro. No; I like "There were women launched up in" the (w)rack. It's an economical expression, conveying that they're there now, and telling us how they got there. "Lodged" would describe the status quo, but not the process. "Launched up into" would describe what happened, but not necessarily convey the status quo.
kevinm said,
May 13, 2015 @ 10:26 am
* When I say "now," I mean as of the time she's describing of course. I hope they're not still there!
Brett said,
May 13, 2015 @ 11:06 am
@Tyro: I had been wondering what that "launched" was supposed to convey. Now it makes more sense!
Brett said,
May 13, 2015 @ 11:07 am
@kevinm: That doesn't work for me. Saying "launched […] in" feels unidiomatic; it has to use "into."
Steve said,
May 13, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
If Mr. Wladis knew the women were "launched" into the luggage rack, it would be disingenuous for him to claim that he doesn't know how they got in there. (Yes, yes, I know, he could have meant that while he knew that they were launched there, he doesn't understand how such a thing can actually be possible.).
Gregory Kusnick said,
May 13, 2015 @ 7:52 pm
Perhaps both theories are right. New Yorker says "lodged"; Philadelphia reporter hears "laudged" and, following kevinm's logic, transcribes it as "launched".
Dan T. said,
May 13, 2015 @ 8:05 pm
Oddly, just a couple of days before this train wreck I had happened to watch the movie Unbreakable on Netflix, which features in an early scene a massive train wreck in Philadelphia.
[(myl) Which actually happened, in 1943, on the same curve in North Philly.]
K. Chang said,
May 15, 2015 @ 1:15 am
To be fair, it could have been posted via Siri / Google Now and/or went through bad word correction. :)
John Swindle said,
May 16, 2015 @ 8:05 am
The witness observed that women were being launched up in the luggage wrack. He was unable to determine how they got up there. The wrack was probably a launcher, and they probably got up there by climbing on suitcases.