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The Meaning of Headlines: 'in clover' - motor cycles




The BusinessDay section of the Canberra Times on July 9, 2015, contained the headline, ‘Scooters not scooting but hogs in clover.’ There’s a lot in this headline, but what does ‘scooting’ and ‘hogs’ and ‘in clover’ mean?

The article discusses the report of the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries about the motorised two-wheel market – for example, scooters, such as Vespas (small two-wheel vehicles), and motor bikes, such as Harley Davidsons (large two-wheel bikes). The statement in the article sums up the difference: ‘The scooter look is suddenly and sharply less cool in Australia – vespers for Vespas – while hogs are in clover, the illusion of the Wild One never stronger.’ Vespers are the evening sunset prayers in most religions, therefore ‘vespers for Vespas’ means ‘goodnight scooter!’ – yes, they are going out of style. The author adds ‘while hogs are in clover’ referring to Harley Davidson motor bikes – the Harley Owners Group (HOG)! In other words, scooters are out (‘scooters not scooting), and big bikes are in (‘hogs in clover). Scooting means to ‘go quickly’ or to ‘send at high speed.’



But what does ‘in clover’ really mean? Oxford Dictionaries defines ‘in clover’ as ‘in ease and luxury’ while The Free Dictionary defines the phrase as ‘having good fortune; in a very good situation, especially financially.’ So if hogs are in clover, it means that the Harley Owners Group is in financial good fortune – sales are up! Clover is also a reference to the four leaf clover; a green low-lying plant, which typically has three leaves. Finding a four leaf clover is a sign of good luck.

Let’s see if the article does discuss the financial good fortune of Harleys. The article states that scooter sales fell 26% compared with the previous year, but Harleys’ sales were up by 14.6% to 4,566 hogs. While Harleys had 21% of the market share, Honda still leads the total motor cycle and scooter business with 24.6% of the market share, but Vespas were the top-selling scooter at 19.4% while Honda scooters were at 16.6%.


Scorecard for the Canberra Times headline is 100% for the combination of alliteration (‘scooters not scooting’), choice of an abbreviated term (‘hogs’), and the symbol for good fortune (‘in clover’).
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