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What does this sentence mean?

"Bad sex isn't really something that wives want announced to the dirty ex-mistress."

Does it mean, "Bad sex isn't really something that wives want, and bad sex is announced to the dirty ex-mistress"?

Why use "want p.p (want announced)" instead of "want to infinitive (want to announce)"?

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  • Hi, and welcome to Writers. Requests to explain or define single words or sentences are not on-topic for us, but if formatted correctly they are okay on English SE.
    – Lauren Ipsum
    Jun 30, 2016 at 15:07
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    It means that having an unsatisfactory sex life with one's wife is not something a man should discuss with his mistress, and that doing so would be especially offensive to the wife. "...that wives want announced" is just poor writing. My advice is to cross out the whole mess and rewrite it more clearly.
    – Mark Hubbard
    Jun 30, 2016 at 15:45

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does it mean "Bad sex isn't really something that wives want and bad sex is announced to the dirty ex-mistress"?

No, at least not grammatically. It means that a wife doesn't want her husband to tell his new paramour that his former sex life was bad.

why use "want p.p (want announced) instead of "want to infinitive (want to announce)" ?

"I want to {infinitive}" means that I want to do something myself.
"I want {something} + {past participle}", means that I don't particularly care who makes an action; I only want it done.
In your example, the second form is used to highlight that the wife doesn't want anyone to announce that.

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    Note that, this is informal usage and the formal and more common is want to be announced.
    – user33000
    Jul 1, 2016 at 8:25

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