Thursday on ADS-L, a report from Wilson Gray, with his baffled reaction (shared by others in the mailing list):
Headline of political ad: “Meet TPP Champion [Name]!”
Body of political ad: “Among a handful of shining examples of fighters for social, economic, and environmental justice stands [Name], who has opposed the TPP and TTIP since before most of us had even heard about them!” [TPP: Trans Pacific Partnership; TTIP: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]
Is this headline meant to convey the idea, somehow, that [Name] is a “TPP champion” not in the obvious sense that he champions the TPP against the left, but, instead, in the opposite sense, that he champions the left against the TPP?
How are we to interpret X champion? It’ll be helpful to get away from the particulars of this particular example by introducing an X that (I hope) will have no political associations for my readers: Fosdick. What might Fosdick champion refer to? In NPs like:
a Fosdick champion, the Fosdick champion, our Fosdick champion
an early Fosdick champion, the celebrated Fosdick champion, our greatest Fosdick champion
