Headline writers are semi-literate idiots!
When I read a news story, I don't ask for much. Chief among the things I do ask for is that THE WRITER ACTUALLY KNOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!
I saw this headline at the AJC:
If you're thinking that it's ok, then you must be an idiot too. I'll explain.
You find a lump of something that's been burned badly. You inspect it. "It appears to have a head and limbs." There you go, Einstein!! You've identified the body! It's a body!
Identifying a body is easy. "Look over there! It's a body!" or "The one next to the can of gasoline in front of the snicker's bar. That one is a body."
But that's not what they mean! It's what they say but it's not what they mean! It doesn't take an English professor to figure out that what they are trying to say is that they have discovered or deduced the identity of the person to whom that body belonged. You can even say that you've figured out the identity of the body. Identifying the body itself is easy. "It's a body!"
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