crash blossom. noun. An ambiguous headline, particularly one that yields comedic interpretations. Coined in 2009 by Danny Bloom based on the headline “Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms” in Japan Today, crash blossoms tend to occur in headlines because of space constraints. These linguistic gems are a kind of garden path sentence, in which one must backtrack to resolve an ambiguity, most often due to words that can be nouns or verbs, as in the classic example: “The old man the boat.”
Language Log has a category devoted to crash blossoms with many great examples. One of my favorites: “Mutilated body washes up on Rio beach to be used for Olympics beach volleyball.”
Ben Zimmer wrote a New York Times column on the phenomenon yielding, among other gems, “Giant Waves Down Queen Mary’s Funnel.”
A few other choice examples:
“Fat men enjoy longer lasting sex scientific research show”
“McDonald’s fries the holy grail for potato farmers”
“Lawmen from Mexico Barbecue Guests”
“Genetic Engineering Splits Scientists”
“Girl found alive in France murders car”
“Trump demands dog ‘Dreamers’ deal”