Crash Blossoms and Head Waves

From The Week magazine October 29, 2010

My first thought was: The Republican(*s) [Verb wave] [Noun heads] for Washington. (similar to waving hands for Detroit)

Next: The Republican [Noun wave] [Verb heads] for Washington. (similar to the Republican handshake)

And Finally: The Republican [Noun wave] [Verb heads] for Washington. (see 5.c. below)

***

wave:

v.tr.
1. To cause to move back and forth or up and down, either once or repeatedly: She waved a fan before her face.

2. a. To move or swing as in giving a signal: He waved his hand. Nouns

n.
4. A movement up and down or back and forth: a wave of the hand.

5. c. A rising trend that involves large numbers of individuals: a wave of conservatism.
d. One of a succession of mass movements: the first wave of settlers.

Defintions from thefreedictionary.com

The two pictures of people waving on the page didn't help disambiguate the headline for me.

Stanley the Pup Helps Red Wings Bring Home Stanley the Cup

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings on bringing home the Stanley Cup

As I have mentioned previously, I am not a huge hockey fan, but if ever there was going to be a year that I really wanted to see the Red Wings win, it was this year. My heightened interest was due to our new puppy, Stanley. I like to think that my boys' choice in his name is what brought the Wings the luck they needed to win (not that they didn't have the skill).

At any rate, to bring some linguistic relevance to the Red Wings win, I want to point out a couple of Detroit Free Press headlines from today that demonstrate their editors' ability to have fun with words, specifically homophones.

On the front page, section A, main headline: Red Reign
A homophonic play on the phrase Red Rain. Red Rain is a phenomenon that occurred sporadically in 2001 in the southern Indian state Kerala. It is also the title of a song by Peter Gabriel and a song by The White Stripes ((a band from Detroit)) Coincidence? I think not).

On the front page of a special Red Wings section: 11th Our's
This is the 11th time the Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup and it is homophonic play on the phrase At the 11th Hour meaning at the last possible moment.

Thank you for the linguistic fun Free Press editors.