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crash blossom. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
crash blossom, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
crash blossom in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
crash blossom you have here. The definition of the word
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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.”