Originally posted by Serial_Apologist
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Pedants' Paradise
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This is a sticky topic.
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Originally posted by oliver sudden View PostI
Does this count as a ‘crash blossom’?
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To be pedantic, I think a 'crash blossom' involves a misreading (typically in a headline of some sort) which gives rise to a new word or term. It's not just an ambiguity. In that it's similar to a 'mondegreen' which is a mishearing of the words of a poem or song. If you remember the fate of the Bonnie Earl o' Moray ("They Lady Mondegreen...") ...
My own literary creation c. 1978 - 'Pub rents rocket' - would therefore not qualify as an earlier example of a crash blossomIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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Originally posted by french frank View PostTo be pedantic, I think a 'crash blossom' involves a misreading (typically in a headline of some sort) which gives rise to a new word or term. It's not just an ambiguity.
My favourite mangled headline of all (one I saw in the wild in 2004, in the hands of a friend of a friend who worked for the journal in question) concerns the unexpected dropping by Hamid Karzai of his vice-president from his ticket for the then-forthcoming presidential elections.
In surprise, Karzai drops powerful No. 2
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Originally posted by oliver sudden View Post
I’m not sure how many of the Merriam-Webster examples fit this description though?
My favourite mangled headline of all (one I saw in the wild in 2004, in the hands of a friend of a friend who worked for the journal in question) concerns the unexpected dropping by Hamid Karzai of his vice-president from his ticket for the then-forthcoming presidential elections.
In surprise, Karzai drops powerful No. 2
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Originally posted by oliver sudden View PostI’m not sure how many of the Merriam-Webster examples fit this description though?It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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About thirty years ago I bought the Oxford Dictionary of New Words. Their 'newness' was attributed to their use in 'The News'. Many of them are now already obsolete. It reminded me of when we were children and my mother, joining us in watching the television,said 'look, she's jiving with her friends' . My sister turned to her scornfully and said 'Mother, you don't say "jiving" now'.
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Originally posted by oliver sudden View Post
I’m not sure how many of the Merriam-Webster examples fit this description though?
My favourite mangled headline of all (one I saw in the wild in 2004, in the hands of a friend of a friend who worked for the journal in question) concerns the unexpected dropping by Hamid Karzai of his vice-president from his ticket for the then-forthcoming presidential elections.
In surprise, Karzai drops powerful No. 2
A drop in the ocean, if today's sewage mismanagement is anything to go by!
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