Briefly: a chain of misreadings

Caught out of the corner of my eye:

Queensland Monsoons

Hmm, I thought, I hadn’t heard of heavy rains in northeast Australia, so I looked a little more closely and got

Queensland Maricons

Well, yes, there are plenty of queers in QLD, but not all that many Hispanics, and anyway, shouldn’t it be maricones?

Then I actually focussed on the phrase and saw that it was

Queensland Maroons

which was even more puzzling.

So I actually read stuff, and discovered that the QLD Maroons are a rugby team. Looking studly:

I’d like to advocate for the QLD Maroon Maricons (QLD Macaroons?). Australian Rugby League players in high heels and all that.

2 Responses to “Briefly: a chain of misreadings”

  1. Misty Says:

    Weirder: Queenslanders pronounce it “Mah-ROANS”. I lived there seven years and never figured out why.

  2. TommyBoy Says:

    “… the QLD Maroons are a rugby team” Pedant warning: “Rugby”, by itself, refers to the game of Rugby Union, similar in some respects to Rugby League. The Maroons do play ‘League’ as you note in the final sentence. Fans of both codes (of which I am neither) find this distinction important.

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