I ran across a totally random headline today that reminded me of a very common mistake, which is considered a Logical Fallacy --- it's called an "Amphiboly".

This is what a type of "Fallacy of Ambiguity", which you can read about here;
http://www.philosophypages.com/lg/e06c.htm

Here's a more specific page on the Amphiboly;
http://courses.csusm.edu/fallacies/amphiboly.htm


The simple description is that an Amphiboly is a statement that isn't clear on what it's actual meaning is. There are two or more ways of interpreting what it actually means. In my Logic class a while back, the professor used this newspaper headline (these are INFAMOUS for committing Amphibolies) as an example;

"Elderly often burn victims"

That could be interpreted to mean that either the elderly often suffer from burns, or they they often burn their victims (either of which is a pretty grim scenario).


So what's the actual headline that brought all this to my mind, you ask? This one;
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/ne.....ing-spree-ever

"22 Elephants shot from helicopter"

So... does that mean that people in a helicopter shot 22 Elephants, or that 22 Elephants on a helicopter discharged firearms? Or did a helicopter fire 22 Elephants as projectiles?

The mind boggles...