springing a leak

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 12:10 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 5:19 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >  Here's a strange headline.
> >
> > http://bit.ly/cIuM0f
> > NSA Executive Leaked After Official Reporting Process Failed Him |
> > Threat Level | Wired.com
> >
> > Normally, it wouldn't be necessary to assume that it was classified
> > information (or documents) that was leaked by an official, but, in this
> > headline, the object is missing completely. So it sounds like the
> > "Executive" may have sprung a leak.
>
> And I decided after a couple of readings of the headline alone that either
>  a) he was *fired*, and Wired was making a bad joke by using "leaked" for an
> NSA official,
>  b) or his *identity* was leaked to the media
> It never even occurred to me to read this as a transitive verb with the
> object ungrammatically deleted.

The object deletion strikes me as typical headline-ese (if a bit
crash-blossom-y). Here's more intransitive leaking from Politico:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39011.html
JournoList wonders who leaked

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27414.html
A D.C. whodunit: Who leaked and why?


--bgz

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