Sic!…
From the ever-amusing (and ever-illuminating) Michael Quinion and Wide Wide Words:
The news ticker on the BBC site on 10 August read “Police chase man killed by train”. This was not a report of post-mortem athleticism: the first three words make up a noun phrase – the police chased a man, who was then killed by a train…
A similar confusion surrounds a headline found on the website of the Vancouver Province on 5 August: “Archeologist shoots dead rampaging polar bear”…
The story in the Sydney Morning Herald last Monday, on the other hand, is merely badly phrased: “Turks are notorious for breaking out into gunshots to celebrate weddings and sports victories”…
The headline on the website of The Daily Caller of Miami seems to imply a multifunction weapon: “Boy chases away man who shot his dad with kitchen knife.”
As we hesitate before committing to a headline, we might wish a joyeux anniversaire to writer and film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet, whose first novel, The Erasers (Les Gommes) earned him the praise of eminent critics like Roland Barthes and (in retrospect) the title “father of the Nouveau Roman.”
