crash blossom
English
Etymology
From a headline "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms". The author's intended interpretation is that the violinist who blossoms was linked to a plane crash (by her father having been on the plane). However, the sentence can also be interpreted to mean that the violinist was linked to something called a "crash blossom".
Noun
crash blossom (plural crash blossoms)
- (linguistics) A sentence, often a news headline, that is subject to incorrect interpretation due to syntactic and/or lexical ambiguity.
- 2010, Ben Zimmer, Crash Blossoms, New York Times:
- Nouns that can be misconstrued as verbs and vice versa are, in fact, the hallmarks of the crash blossom. Take this headline, often attributed to The Guardian: “British Left Waffles on Falklands.”
- 2010, Ben Zimmer, Crash Blossoms, New York Times:
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