Language Log

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:

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

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

"Chinese cooking fat heads for Holland", DutchNews.nl 3/27/2012.

"Does Donald Trump support matter?", Special Report w/ Bret Baier, Fox News 2/2/2012. John Crowley's reponse: Well what's the alternative, thought I.  Denouncing matter?  Indifference to matter?   The Gnostics used to argue over it…

This one isn't ambiguous, as far as I can tell — it just doesn't mean what the headline writer wanted it to mean: "Buried Alive Fiance Gets 20 Years in Prison", ABC News 1/13/2012.

From Miika Sillanpää: A Finnish tabloid presented this beautiful crash blossom today: Disregarding the tragic subject, it can be read either as "Father kills his daughter's dog with hammer" OR "Father kills his daughter with dog's hammer" Well-tended crash blossoms such as this are exceedingly rare in the Finnish-language media, so it was a pretty […]

Courtesy of Stephen Bullon in East Sussex, here's a headline to test your crash blossom mettle: Bright sparks weather gala night power cut to party on Stephen didn't send a scan, and the article doesn't appear (yet?) on the paper's web site, but apparently it was actually printed in the physical version. It took me […]

BBC News is a reliable source for the misleading headlines we know as crash blossoms (e.g., here, here, here). The latest comes to us via a Twitter tip from Ben Lillie, who retweeted Mikko Hypponen's double-take: "What took down the US drone? Iranian TV shows did! Or maybe I'm misreading this." Here's the headline: Iranian […]

Benjamin Cusack, "Sex Quiz Cricket Ace in Hotel Suicide Leap", The Sun, 11/14/2011.

Josh Fruhlinger sends along a sublime crash blossom from BBC News: "Dog helps lightning strike Redruth mayor." Requisite screenshot in case it changes:

"Virginia Beach man accused of decapitating son to stay in hospital", (Newport News) Daily Press, 9/26/2011.