this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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Judge in Trump civil fraud case sent envelope with white powder, source says (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 6 months ago by darth_tiktaalik@lemmy.ml to c/news@lemmy.ml
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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

As I've said for years, English is a shit language.

Bob sent a birthday card

Means Bob mailed it to someone

Bob was sent a birthday card

Means Bob received it.

We still keep headlines short, so the "was" gets dropped, and we're left with an ambiguous sentence that literally means the opposite of what context clues tell us it means.

It makes sense when you realize headlines start out as full sentences but then get trimmed down as short as possible.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

Yeah, it's all shit our brains account for like 99% of the time so we don't even realize it.

If you don't learn it when your little, it's always going to be weird.

But if people stop to think about it, most can't explain why it still makes sense.

[–] livus@kbin.social 4 points 6 months ago

@davel is right though.

Envelope With White Powder Sent To Judge In Trump Civil Fraud Case, Source Says

Exact same length and unambiguous.