Picking Crash Blossoms.

I've been meaning to write something about crash blossoms for some time but was just procrastinating as it involved time collecting the local blooms. With the recent opening of the Gardens by the Bay, the thought did occur again and the impetus to blog about them was the 2 crash blossoms I found this morning.

Do you know what Crash Blossoms are? Or have you heard of it?
You've probably come across many but just that you were not aware that they were called Crash Blossoms.  

Very simply put, Crash Blossoms are those headlines in the newspapers that make you go "huh ?"
It's often used by copywriters to attract your attention but at times and more humorously, they are written seriously , but when published, they then realise "Oops!"
These are the ones that are pure gems as Crash Blossoms.

The term arose after a Japan Today newspaper published an article headlined
“Violinist Linked to JAL crash blossoms”
It started a whole chain of neologism (wow , that means a newly coined term coming into common use). The headline actually referred to a Japan Airline crash victim's daughter coming of age.


In today Straits Times Pg B10, I chuckled when I read 2 crash blossoms side by side.
"S'pore to make tax puzzle easier" and "Free trade pact with Turkey may be on the cards"
You'll get it after a while.


I'll try to collect and collate local crash blossoms and add them to this post as and when I may come across them. Send them to me if you do pick some up.


Related posts: 
Down the garden path
The horse ran past the barn fell

For your perusal

My company recently advertised for staff to fill a position.
In the many resumes I received, a common ending was "... for your perusal .."

Some of the applications were so short and simple that I really wonder if the writer actually knew what it meant.  What do you think "for your perusal" means ? I suspect most Singaporean having gone through local schools have the wrong idea of what perusal means.

Do you think that it means "have a quick look", or perhaps, "scan through the brief but important details".. or something like that, meaning a cursory glance at the contents.
I know of some colleagues in the past who submit reports and request for their dept heads to do a quick perusal. So I believe most assume the word perusal to mean a quick look. You agree?

Actually, the word perusal means the opposite of that above.
To 'peruse' is to do a detailed analysis of the data, to carefully study the contents.
Thus, "for your perusal" would entail spending a great deal of your time going over the details of whatever is being submitted for consideration.
It is certainly not a request to skim through the page.



Related blog: Off days and days off

Led down the garden path

Led down the garden path is an idiom, meaning deceived someone by giving him or her the wrong information.

In the English Language, there are some phrases or sentences that are also known as garden path sentences. It’s not actually used to deceive anyone but that the way it is written makes the person THINK in a certain way which will lead up to a dead end initially.

The horse raced past the barn fell, which I wrote in my previous blog, is one such garden path sentence.

The reason for the confusion is that our minds think logically when we read and we put together words as they form.

In other words, we are conditioned to think in a structured manner.

When we come across a garden path sentence, we get stumped because it does not make sense as we build the image in our heads.

Try this for example,

The cotton clothing is made of grows in the USA.

Doesn’t make sense the first time, right? 

Read it again……
still doesn’t make sense?

That’s because your mind is reading it as ‘cotton clothing’.

Now try reading it again as ‘The cotton’ instead. Get it?

As in...The cotton (clothing is made of) grows in the USA.

You were just led down the garden path!

I first learned about this language quirk when I was reading a Charlie Brown Snoopy cartoon. The cartoonist Charles Schultz quoted a Bible verse from the Book of Jobs: “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards”.  I couldn’t understand it at all for a long time and when I finally did, it appeared so simple that I kicked myself for my own lacking.

So don't feel bad if you can’t figure out The horse raced past the barn fell.

Here’s something else you can try to see if your mind fools you every time, or if you believe you are as smart as you think.

Read this….

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES AND THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

How many letter ‘F’ can you find in the above sentence. Count them and compare the results below… No peeking till after you count. Ok? It’s not a trick.

How many Fs did you find?

If you found 2 - you need your eyes checked. Use the above chart.

If you found 3 – you are just average and normal.

If you found 4 – you are above average.

If you found 5 – you are good.

If you found 6 – you are a genius.

The answer is 6.
If you didn't get 6, go back and re-count.
There are really 6 Fs in plain sight and this time you'll laugh at yourself.

Here are some more garden path sentences that will make you read twice (at least)

• 1. The old man the boat.
• 2. The girl told the story cried. 
• 3. After the student moved the chair broke.
• 4. Fat people eat accumulates. 
• 5. The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.
  
• 6. The florist sent the flowers was pleased.
• 7.  The man whistling tunes pianos.
• 8.  I convinced her children are noisy.

The horse raced past the barn fell.

Youth is one of those awkward words in the English language, especially the plural form.
Is it youth or youths?

I was raised in the old school where we were taught that collective nouns are always without the s in the plural, e.g. children, but I accept that language evolves.

The word youth has morphed from my time to todays' internet era.
Youths is readily used nowadays, especially in newspaper reports.
I guess because of a new generation of reporters and journalists.

Though it sounds awful, youths is a correct form of the plural. It really depends on how it's used.

However, 1 group or a person is still youth and you don't say a group of youths.
If there are 2 or more groups, then you can refer to them as youths. e.g. the youth of Singapore and the youth of Malaysia but the youths of Singapore and Malaysia.

Awkward, right? ha ha.
Never mind, just use whatever you think is right.
The easiest way to differentiate is to see whether the persons/group can be counted (youths) or not (youth).

Still don't get it?  The sadistic me is enjoying this!
Wait till you get to garden path phrases like The horse raced past the barn fell or The army push bottles up the enemy.
Then you'll really be scratching your head.

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