On Monday evening, just a few miles from me here on Long Island, a woman stole a python from a pet store, hopped in her Prius, and crashed it into a firehouse door with the python around her neck: Sarah Espinosa, drunken driver, crashed into firehouse, had snake around neck, Nassau cops say - Newsday "There are plenty of expected, unexpected and just plain unusual emergencies that New Hyde Park firefighters face on a daily basis. It's safe to say that for Chief Steven Waldron and his crew, a Toyota Prius crashing into the firehouse, a woman behind the wheel with a pilfered pet store python around her neck, wasn't among them. But that's what happened at about 7:10 p.m. Monday, Waldron and Nassau police said. "It was not clear Tuesday the age of the 2-foot black and brown python, whether it had a name or was a he or she. It was also unclear if the ball python -- a breed more likely found in Africa than a crash-damaged New Hyde Park firehouse -- sustained an injury."
At least they didn't make any snide comments about the Prius, and they do give the make of car in most accident stories.
Here's an article with some pretty pictures... Stolen python found wrapped around neck of drunk woman in crash: cops | New York Post
Thanks! These so-called "noun piles" (although mine also has an adjective) are popular for British newspaper headlines, and are often featured on various language blogs. Here's another automotive one: Language Log » Noun pile for the ages "China Ferrari Sex Orgy Death Crash.
I like this title better. (Although the combinations of different interpretations from "China Ferrari Sex Orgy Death Crash" is far greater.) Along similar lines, my favorite early morning radio greeting went something like "Let's start the morning with the Car-Strangled Spanner" followed with a traffic report about some SF bridge instead of the National Anthem.
I clearly remember the China Ferrari Sex Orgy Death Crash incident. It actually helped kick off the current round of Communist Party leadership infighting. But anyway, I do think Britain does the best news headlines, whether noun piles or not. Two of my favourites were: Excellent Scottish football team Celtic (who I support) lose catastrophically to then-crap Scottish football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle (commonly known as Caley). A couple of my other favourites include: This one might need some explanation for the Americans. In Britain, a school's principal is called the Headmaster, Headmistress, or just Head. A friend of a friend had his first sub-editing job in the English town of Ongar, and had to write an article about funding being cut for the local library. His headline was "BOOK LACK IN ONGAR". Hong Kong was good for this sort of thing, as there were often English sub-editors with Chinese bosses. My two favourites were: - During the 2004 Olympics, in the weightlifting, a Chinese woman called Zhang something or other won one of the competitions. The South China Morning Post's headline was "Zhang Impresses With Magnificent Snatch" - When Hong Kong Chief Executive (the head of the government) Tung Chee-Hwa went to Washington to meet George Bush, the Hong Kong Standard's front page had a picture of them shaking hands over the headline "TUNG MEETS BUSH".
Some very clever ones! I hadn't seen any from Hong Kong, but as you say, no surprise given the British heritage there.
