Ambiguous Newspaper Headlines

[kph]

How many times do you see a newspaper headline that doesn't seem to make sense at a first glance ??
I can across this one in the Saturday edition of the West Australian

"Tigers run out of room to call home"

I pictured al these tigers escaping frm their room to makes phone calls home.

Is it just me ??

 

[ozi]

Kph,

I think they do this on purpose. If you can't make sense of the headline, you are likely to read the first paragraph to find out what the hell they are talking about, aren't you? Whereas if the headline was clear and unambiguous, if you didn't think the article would interest you, you wouldn't bother reading any further. I don't know if it works though. I agree with you though.

Regards,
Ozi

 

[Jacque]

Hehehe KPH- I know where you're coming from!
You would appreciate, then, the humour in the excellent book by Lynne Truss, aptly titled, "Eats Shoots and Leaves".
Do yourself a favour and read it. She really gives newspapers editors a hard time

 

[geoffw]

the excellent book by Lynne Truss, aptly titled, "Eats Shoots and Leaves".

Wikipedia covers this book.

It has a parody- Eats, S***es and Leaves- "Crap English and How to Use It".

 

[Simon]

Some are just slips of the tongue

* Grandmother of eight makes hole in one
* Deaf mute gets new hearing in killing
* Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers
* House passes gas tax onto senate
* Stiff opposition expected to casketless funeral plan
* Two convicts evade noose, jury hung
* William Kelly was fed secretary
* Milk drinkers are turning to powder
* Safety experts say school bus passengers should be belted
* Quarter of a million Chinese live on water
* Farmer bill dies in house
* Iraqi head seeks arms

Some become unintentionally suggestive

* Queen Mary having bottom scraped
* Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?
* Prostitutes appeal to Pope
* Panda mating fails - veterinarian takes over
* NJ judge to rule on nude beach
* Child's stool great for use in garden
* Dr. Ruth to talk about sex with newspaper editors
* Soviet virgin lands short of goal again
* Organ festival ends in smashing climax

Grammar often botches other headlines

* Eye drops off shelf
* Squad helps dog bite victim
* Dealers will hear car talk at noon
* Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
* Lawmen from Mexico barbecue guests
* Miners refuse to work after death
* Two Soviet ships collide - one dies
* Two sisters reunite after eighteen years at checkout counter

Once in a while, a botched headline takes on a meaning opposite from the one intended:

* Never withhold herpes from loved one
* Nicaragua sets goal to wipe out literacy
* Drunk drivers paid $1,000 in 1984
* Autos killing 110 a day, let's resolve to do better

Sometimes newspaper editors state the obvious

* If strike isn't settled quickly it may last a while
* War dims hope for peace
* Smokers are productive, but death cuts efficiency
* Cold wave linked to temperatures
* Child's death ruins couple's holiday
* Blind woman gets new kidney from dad she hasn't seen in years
* Man is fatally slain
* Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say
* Death causes loneliness, feeling of isolation

 

[see_change]

Although not quite exactly the same , it reminded me of one of the original slip of the tongue experts . The Rev Spooner.

Patriotic fervour excited Spooner as well. He raised his toast to Her Highness Victoria: "Three cheers for our queer old dean!" During WWI he reassured his students, "When our boys come home from France, we will have the hags flung out." And he lionised Britain's farmers as "noble tons of soil."

See Change

 

[AlmostBob]

Crisis in Theatre,
Government Acts