muddled referent

Victor Steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Aug 11 14:21:23 UTC 2012


When it was announced that Romney will "unveil" his VP pick Paul Ryan
on/in front of USS Wisconsin, I knew someone was going to say it. And
Steve Benen did not disappoint--within minutes, his post on the Ryan
pick included this line:

> The announcement will be in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin -- which
> just happens to be Ryan's home state.

The meaning is transparent, of course, but that's what creates the
problem in the first place--had it not been, no one would try to phrase
it this way. And the number of examples of this type is not negligible.

     VS-)

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