Placing a modifier where it rightfully should be

It’s not always easy to come up with an arresting news headline that fits the fixed character count of the printed or digital column, so I tend to be forgiving when the headline writer resorts to mild to moderate contortions in grammar and syntax to make the fit. But I do think we have to draw the line when the contortion leads to semantic atrocity, as in this recent headline by the online edition of a leading Philippine broadsheet: “Stunning but strange, Donaire wins title fight.”

(To put that headline in context, Filipino boxer Nonito Donaire Jr.—bleeding profusely from an “accidental headbutt” on the left eye—won the WBA Featherweight title by unanimous technical decision over South African Simpiwe Vetyeka on May 31, 2014.)