Conference thebay::joyoflex

	    subject     	predicate
	    /     \		/     |   \
	adjective noun	     adverb  verb  object
	Southern  miss	     rifle  hitting   targets

Actually, not a sentence.  Phrase.  No verb.  "Hitting" not verb by itself.  
If "miss" verb, sentence not meaningful.  Newspaper headlines great for 
omitting verbs.  




Now for my guess;

[The] SOUTHERN MISS[issippi University] RIFLE [team is] HITTING [the] TARGETS
[when they shoot their rifles].

I think newspaper headlines are fun.  Why don't we retitle this not "Ambiguous 
Newspaper Headlines".


Clay

	Not sure I follow you.  Could you explain what the possible
	*meaning* of your diagrammed sentence might be.  For example:

		adjective noun noun  verb    object
		Southern  Miss Rifle hitting targets
	
	could be that the winner of the Miss Rifle contest (Southern 
	division) is a pretty good shot.  Or:

		noun      verb - adjective - noun
		Southern  miss rifle-hitting targets

	could mean that Southern (the university, say) really long and
	pine for those targets that they used to hit rifles with (whatever 
	they may be -- this doesn't have to make sense).

	Get it?  Oh, never mind ...

		-- Cliff

    Re SOUTHERN MISS RIFLE HITTING TARGETS:
    
    Gee!  I thought it meant that a a rifle belonging to a daughter
    of the old South (Dixie, that is) had become accurate.
    
    It might also mean that the actress, Ann Southern, regrets losing
    (or giving away?  Selling?) a bunch of targets used in rifle practice
    (the "miss" rather than "misses" because the editor got mixed up
    on what the subject of the headline was).
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr. 

    
    Borrowing from an earlier reply, perhaps it means that the
    Southern Miss. (team?) stole the hitting-targets.
    
    

    Re: SOUTHERN MISS RIFLE HITTING TARGETS:
    
I thought it to mean that a company had produced a new model rifle called the
'Southern Miss' which was meeting their projected sales curve.

Pete

        re .3,
        
        Read .1 as if "rifle hitting" was some kind of hitting.
        
        Dan

SOUTHERN MISS RIFLE HITTING TARGETS:
    
Also:  the NRA has regional Miss Rifle beauty contests.  The winner of the
south regional contest is hitting some target or other.

Also also:  a lass from the south has had her picture posted on various
rifle shoot targets - "targets" being the only noun, the rest comprising one
adjectival ... uhhh ... thing.

		SOUTHERN MISS RIFLE HITTING TARGETS	

The southern (group? people? team?) do not have a rifle that is hitting targets;
supposedly they only have rifles that do *not* hit targets.

(suggestion: why don't they define the rest of the world, so everything without
the target, as "target". In that case, they will be right on target, with the
rifles they have. Right? Oh... never mind....;-))

Arie

    Not sure if these are on the list:
    
    The Southern once had targets used for the sport of rifle hitting.
    
    The Southern once had targets that hit rifles.
    
    Re suggestion in .9:
    
    Question: How do you catch a wild animal?
    
    Answer: Build a fence around yourself, and do a mathematical
    set-complement operation.  "Inside" the fence now contains the wild
    animal you want (and probably a few others...).
    
    >M

        So how many meanings does the sentence have in Dutch? :-)
        
        Dan

RE .11
>        So how many meanings does the sentence have in Dutch? :-)
        
Well... we get some extra when I translate word for word, and translate back...
One of them being:

   Southern fog gun significant goals.

Is this what you wanted to know, Dan ? :-);-)

Arie

    Miss Rifle (Understand it like Miss Universe, or Miss America, - what are 
    her features) from the South is hitting targets (what sort of targets ?).
    
    
    Pierre.

    
    This has nothing to do with Miss Rifle, but is in response to
    the question posed in .10
    
    How do you catch a polar bear?
    
    
    
    You cut a hole in the ice and make a circle of peas around the hole.
    Then when the polar bear goes to take a pea you kick him in the
    ice-hole!

    I betcha I know what the headline writer really meant!
    
    
    
    The quarterback of the Southern Mississippi football team, who has
    a very strong throwing arm, is now throwing passes that are being
    caught.

It means the Southern Mississippi Rifle Battalion is improving their aim.

or

It means the Southern Mississippi Rifle company is returning profits in line 
with last years projections.

Actually, I think the sports one in on target.

	.16 wins the prize!  Yes, the article was in _The Sporting
	News_ and was about the SMU QB (forget his name).  Yes, he
	was throwing passes that were being caught, but the gist of
	the article was that he had been trained in a running-style
	offense, finally got a chance to throw, and was now blossoming 
	as a passer as well.

		-- Cliff

	P.S.  Special prize to whoever knows this guy's name.

    My guess before reading the preceding answers:
    
    This newspaper is shilling the local appearance of the young woman
    who has been chosen "Southern Miss Rifle" for this year
    
    Kit

    > Southern Miss Rifle Hitting Targets
    
    Some former employees of a British company used to hit rifles.
    However, the RSPCR (Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to
    Rifles) learned about these evil people, threatened to prosecute,
    and undertook a vicious publicity campaign.  The targets of this
    campaign figured they'd better leave town.  Their employer, which
    are treated as a plural form in English [now you know why they
    were specified as a British company], can't get anything done
    without them.