Horrible Headline

[CajunCenturion]

In my opinion, the following headline is atrocious.
Study: Cells make young drivers react like seniors
In this headline, we take the plural form of a well established noun, and turn it into an abbreviation for something entirely different.

I agree that one of the strengths of English lies in its flexibility, but is this flexibility or just plain abuse?

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Thadeus]

Hillary takes it poisonally" [Thadeus stabs own eye with pencil]

"Sen. goes down-Hill" which was originally posted as "Hill Goes Down"
Both equally bad.

But the issue I had was "briefly fainted". It's one of those quantified absolutes in my opinion.

~Thadeus

 

[tsdragon]

I agree! That's just atrocious!

It took me over a minute to realize that the headline was, in fact, talking about cell PHONES! I thought perhaps they had discovered something in young males' brains that made them act that way (it would explain a lot).

There is another example of the abuse you mention too: it took me about the same length of time to realize that they meant senior CITIZENS! The usual meaning of the word "seniors" in conjunction with young people is high school seniors.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[SQLSister]

English being the flexible language it is, I first thought they were talking about jail cells. This made the headline extremely odd.

Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to learn Ways to help with Tsunami Relief

 

[SQLSister]

And did teenage drivers hate seniors before the advent of jail cells or cell pohones? It's nice to know that they like them now though.

Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to learn Ways to help with Tsunami Relief

 

[CajunCenturion]

Also from that article,

If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, ...

Where is the wheel and where is the cell phone?

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[aardvark92]

Obviously, the solution is to keep drivers away from the wheels that have cell phones.

 

[Mr3Putt]

I read that headline and thought... melanoma? Abnormal cell growth was causing... what?

Is steroid-induced growth leading to early development of high-school athletes?

The article also appeared in our local paper, but I can't recall the headline.

[red]Note:[/red] [gray]The above comments are the opinionated ravings of Mr3Putt. As such, Mr3Putt accepts no responsibility for damages, real or contrived, resulting from acceptance of his opinions as fact.[/gray]