Martin,
I have often taught math to kids, and my specialty is "word problems". May I help you with you math?
The following statement need re-factoring:
"X says Y about Z and they meant W"
How about this?
A says that when X said Y about Z, they meant W.
Can you handle an equation with five variables?
An alternate 'solution' is:
X said Y about Z. A said that X meant W.
I have run across nearly a dozen examples that fit this formula on Friday and today (lazy bum that I am, I took the weekend off).
* Wesley Clark's statements about Iraq and Al Qaeda
=> "A" quotes Clark as linking Iraq being buddy-buddy with Al Qaeda a couple years ago => "A" quates Clank as saying recently that Iraq NEVER had a link with Al Qaeda
Then, good reporter that he is, "A" quotes Clark as saying that the two (apparently contradictory) statements aren't really contradictory.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/12/politics/campaigns/12CLAR.html
Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed