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Question for the week
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Posted: 02/20/06 The primary job of headlines in a newspaper is to entice the reader to read the entire article and to sum its contents in several words, in case the reader passes on. Good headlines usually include some double meaning or some relationship to a bigger picture than the story at stake. Yesterday I read the headline, "Haze shrouds Turin"; and I smiled. Having graduated from a Catholic university, I knew too well that the Shroud of Turin was supposedly the burial cloth that covered Jesus Christ. I thought the headline was clever, although perhaps someone out there thinks it's blasphemous. Headline writers are a breed unto themselves. They don't get any public recognition, but their best work makes for a better newspaper experience. Here are some of the clever headlines I read over the weekend. "Deere takes a strong leap" covered a story about Deere and Co.'s recent profits. "Barbie figures large for Mattel" plays on the two meanings of the word 'figures.' "Thinking about the big picture" has to do with the revolution in hi-def TV. "You really feel gee forces in MazdaSpeed6" touts a new car. "Tut, tut: the great pyramids aren't all in Egypt" is about oil companies and pyramid scams. You get the idea. Not every headline is worth a chuckle, so for me the challenge is to read them all and quickly decide what I think is clever. Often, on the basis of the headline, I decide whether or not to read the story. It may be backing into my reading material, but I like to think I'm giving headline writers their secret due.
Previous entries Due to the volume of entries, Anne's Ten Minutes A Day are now categorized by date and by topics. Some essays are found under more than one topic. Otherwise, select from the categories below.
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