A selection of headlines from stories in the news.  They use English in a way that you might think is intended to confuse, but it’s all perfectly clear to the native speaker.

“No butts: China orders officials to smoke”, was the headline of an AFP article about a county in central China where officials have been ordered to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of locally made cigarettes annually or risk being fined.  The use of “no butts” is a play on the phrase “no ifs, no buts”, which means “no excuses”.  A cigarette butt is the bit that’s left after a cigarette has been smoked.

Addendum - Following the international outburst the order has been rescinded. Or should that be re-cindered.