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#112044 - 09/17/03 10:59 AM Re: worst headline of the last century?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10463
Loc: this too shall pass >(sink gunboat) and hole cruiser..
that is, they put a hole in it but it hasn't sunk (yet).
-ron o.
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#112045 - 09/17/03 11:39 AM Re: worst headline of the last century?
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member
Registered: 01/17/03
Posts: 171
Loc: Hawaii, USA I recalled seeing a list of humorous headlines long ago and in my search came across this site:
<http://www.ccl.umist.ac.uk/teaching/material/headlines-ans.html>
One headline included in this collection also relates to the Brit/Argie conflict: BRITISH LEFT WAFFLES ON FALKLANDS
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#112046 - 09/17/03 11:58 AM Re: British Left Waffles
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Carpal Tunnel
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Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653 Of course, that had to be an USn headline or it wouldn't have been ambiguous.
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#112047 - 09/17/03 12:12 PM Re: worst headline of the last century?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 11578
Loc: Louisville, Kentucky It's parallel to the verb sink:
Our lads sink gunboat and hole cruiser
Ah--headline English! Got it (finally), thanks!
Re: JH's headline--did they leave any syrup, too?
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#112048 - 09/17/03 12:26 PM Re: worst headline of the century?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653 I would like to go on record as saying that I think it's parbly a tad early to be picking the century's ---st anythang.
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#112049 - 09/17/03 02:18 PM Re: worst headline of the last century?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park Re:did they leave any syrup, too?
I've never heard of putting grenidine on waffles!_________________________
my other obsession
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#112050 - 09/17/03 05:57 PM Re: British Left Waffles
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member
Registered: 01/17/03
Posts: 171
Loc: Hawaii, USA An interesting thing about the site which lists the headlines (a Brit site, by the way) is that it is used as a grammar teaching tool, explaining in grammatical terms why each of the headlines is subject to humorous interpretation. In the case of the British Waffles:
"BRITISH LEFT WAFFLES ON FALKLAND ISLANDS
Double category ambiguity (noun vs verb) for left and waffles. Of interest is that to an American reader, the sentence is not ambiguous, but bizarre, since American English does not have a verb waffle meaning 'prattle', so the only possible reading is the one where left is the verb."
(Not sure we'd get agreement on that statement, since I have heard the term "waffle", connoting vacillation, all my American adult life)
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