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Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 10:54 am
by Travis B.
bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Dec 07, 2025 5:46 am
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Dec 06, 2025 8:55 pm
From
WOIO Cleveland 19 News1,2:
City of Akron reveal new city logo
I was taken aback for a second because I wanted to parse “reveal” as a noun. The
pluralis majestatis verb agreement for a city is not customary here—I’d have expected “reveals”, and “reveal” sounds just
wrong to me.
Huh, is it really that rare in US English? To me it’s perfectly normal.
(Also, I wouldn’t call it a
pluralis majestatis — it’s simply that a city council is made up of multiple people. In UK English it’s standard for governments to take plural agreement; in Australian English either is possible.)
Things like cities and governments almost always take singular agreement in NAE ─ which makes this news title very, very odd to me.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2025 5:16 pm
by Raphael
From the
What do you call... thread in the Languages forum here:
salem wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 5:03 pm
I learned about this method from cooking Youtube,
I have my issues with Big Tech myself, but I'm not sure I'd go that far...
(Please don't be offended, salem. I'm just teasing a bit.)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2025 5:18 pm
by salem
Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 5:16 pm
From the
What do you call... thread in the Languages forum here:
salem wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 5:03 pm
I learned about this method from cooking Youtube,
I have my issues with Big Tech myself, but I'm not sure I'd go that far...
(Please don't be offended, salem. I'm just teasing a bit.)
Oh yes, delicious Youtube stews and braises 🙂↕️. The website's code, hyperoptimized as it is, benefits really well from a long cooking time to let it break down and become tender.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2025 10:23 pm
by zompist
Trump admin broke spending deal agreement to halt mass layoffs, judge rules
Ambiguous between the administration halting or enabling mass layoffs.
(Real-world knowledge helps. Of course the Republican administration broke the law in order to fire workers.)
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 4:20 pm
by Qwynegold
Dagens Nyheter wrote:AI hittar fler sjukdomar än människor
This one works in exactly the same way when translated to English:
AI finds more diseases than people.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 4:23 pm
by Raphael
Qwynegold wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 4:20 pm
Dagens Nyheter wrote:AI hittar fler sjukdomar än människor
This one works in exactly the same way when translated to English:
AI finds more diseases than people.
Nine billion diseases?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 6:11 pm
by Qwynegold
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 4:23 pm
Nine billion diseases?
That's how I thought too at first. Apparently they had first written "AI finds more diseases than people do", but then removed the last word.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:24 am
by bradrn
Former Glasgow Lord Provost convicted of stalking posts Hogmanay moan about 'gaslighting'
Exercise: find the verb!
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:21 am
by Man in Space
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:24 am
Former Glasgow Lord Provost convicted of stalking posts Hogmanay moan about 'gaslighting'
Exercise: find the verb!
“Posts”.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:48 am
by bradrn
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:21 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:24 am
Former Glasgow Lord Provost convicted of stalking posts Hogmanay moan about 'gaslighting'
Exercise: find the verb!
“Posts”.
Yes, well done. It is
not ‘moan’, no matter what I may have thought at first.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:37 pm
by alice
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:48 am
Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:21 am
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:24 am
Former Glasgow Lord Provost convicted of stalking posts Hogmanay moan about 'gaslighting'
Exercise: find the verb!
“Posts”.
Yes, well done. It is
not ‘moan’, no matter what I may have thought at first.
Why did "posts" immediately make me think of streetlamps there?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:38 pm
by bradrn
alice wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:37 pm
bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 11:48 am
Yes, well done. It is
not ‘moan’, no matter what I may have thought at first.
Why did "posts" immediately make me think of streetlamps there?
I don’t know, but it happened to me too.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2026 1:10 pm
by bradrn
Call of Duty removes streamer’s skin after homophobic comments
Apparently one person on Twitter commented, ‘the punishment is a bit medieval but I appreciate the enthusiasm’…
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2026 12:06 pm
by Raphael
From the Irish Times:
Man arrested for questioning about murder of Co Kerry sheep farmer Michael Gaine
So the guy was just asking questions about the murder of a sheep farmer, and that was seen as a sufficient reason to arrest him?
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2026 10:25 am
by bradrn
Ahead of Clinton testimony, Epstein c’tee Democrat says ‘wrong president’ being grilled
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2026 10:00 am
by bradrn
A classic:
Outsider lives on Union Street
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 4:19 pm
by bradrn
Illicit whisky still uncovered after 200 years
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 6:00 pm
by Man in Space
bradrn wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 4:19 pm
Illicit whisky still uncovered after 200 years
Excellent.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Tue May 12, 2026 2:34 pm
by alice
bradrn wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 4:19 pm
Illicit whisky still uncovered after 200 years
*I* was going to post that!!!
Apparently they're debating whether (1) it's drinkable and (2) they shoud cover it up again.
Re: Confusing headlines
Posted: Wed May 13, 2026 1:26 am
by Raphael
alice wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2026 2:34 pm
bradrn wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2026 4:19 pm
Illicit whisky still uncovered after 200 years
*I* was going to post that!!!
Apparently they're debating whether (1) it's drinkable
That might depend on whether, by "drinkable", you mean "not any more downright poisonous than distilled alcohol generally is", or "acceptable to the tastebuds of people used to drinking the finest Scottish whiskies".