Here’s a teaser headline from today’s Los Angeles Times that I had to read several times:
O.C. Animal Shelter Official is Arrested
The supervisor is accused of having sex with female inmates who were there to shave time off their sentences.
Whaa?! With female whats?
Aside from the potentially misplaced modifier (to shave time off their sentences: being at the Animal Shelter or having sex with the supervisor for this purpose?), I was missing an important word in three subsequent readings:
O.C. Animal Shelter Official is Arrested
The supervisor is accused of having sex with female inmates who were working there to shave time off their sentences.
Maybe my misreading was an effect of the discussion of bestiality and the Internet that came up in my class this week.