On 9/1/06, Nishant Shah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I can see you writing a sequel to Eats Shoots and Leaves. Awesome write up. Thanks a lot for that brilliant chuckle-a-line mail. As a stickler for grammar and spellings myself.....
Nishant
I enjoyed this post too, very much...but, I must share this slip-up with the silk list then... it can happen even tosticklers for spelling, occasionally...!.
...we share a love of wordplay and punning, and I am also interested in bird-watching; so I was mightily tickled when I got this comment on LJ from Taiwan :
"I saw this weird looking word - something like a mutated sparrow, perched next to me last evening".
BTW I have a collection of howlers collected from various newspapers and mags...anyone who wants to have a look is welcome! And if any of you come across fresh ones...do send them to me or let me know about them. I would love to add to my collection...one of my latest is a headline from the Deccan Herald that says, "CM signature forgerer caught". Amongst my favourites: "AIDS patient in Madras General Hospital Stable" (poor guy, probably died of tetanus!) ; "Topless Posts in Chengalpattu District" (great entertainment for the people of the area) , and "BJP To Back Front Government".
Deepa.
On 9/1/06, savita rao <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
*Hit by headlines*
/- By David McMahon/
[Published: 28 August 2006; online search at www.asianage.com
<http://www.asianage.com > ]
The recent headline on a well-regarded website caught my eye. "Europe
high-speed train sees passenger jump." Immediately I felt a pang of
sorrow for the passenger who had tried to commit suicide by jumping from
the train.
But all was calm, all was bright. No one had died. In fact, no one had
even jumped, as the headline suggested. The story was about Eurostar,
the high speed train service that links Britain to Europe, carrying 27
per cent more passengers than usual.
So, despite my concern, the only thing that had in fact jumped was the
number of passengers.
It's a case of there, but for the grace of God, go I. It's the sort of
oversight that any sub-editor, or employee of a website, could be guilty
of. Every journalist knows of someone who has written an embarrassing
headline. Yes, some people have the luxury of several minutes during a
newspaper shift in which to write a snappy headline that captures the
spirit of a story and attracts a reader. But most are writing headlines
under pressure — and sometimes that pressure means an unintended double
entendre will slip through.
About 10 years ago, a colleague of mine guffawed as he showed me a
headline in a Sydney paper. But I stared blankly at it. "Read the
story," he urged me, between gales of laughter. It was, perish the
thought, about a medical professional who had breached strict protocol.
The headline said, "Doctor palms off his own sperm." I still didn't see
what my colleague was laughing about until he made some crude gestures
with the palm of his right hand.
But among the classics I have committed to memory was told to me by an
erudite Scot, from whom I learnt much about my craft. He told me about
one instance that led to the publication of one of the more liberal
headlines of all time. A vessel called the King George ran aground off
the British coast and was manoeuvred to safe waters by a couple of
tugboats. The headline was: "King George pulled off; just two tugs did it."
M.J. Akbar, my first editor (and now the editor-in-chief of this paper)
has probably forgotten this gem he wrote on a feature for the weekly
magazine Sunday, where I began my own career in journalism. It was a
story about the rise in venereal disease and Akbar, without batting an
eyelid, twisted the classic line "veni, vidi, vici" (Latin for "I came,
I saw, I conquered") to write the headline "Veni, vici, VD."
Two of the better-known contemporary headlines came from British papers.
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the new Pope, one banner headline,
taking into account the fact that the Pope is known as the Holy Father,
was "Papa Ratzy." And when Paul McCartney recently became a father
again, in his 60s, we were treated to: "Sergeant Papa."
Everyone's heard of the old classic from World War II, as the Allies
pushed forward and the Germans began to retreat. It said "British push
bottles up German rear." Hmmm, yes, the sub-editor who wrote that
headline either didn't realise the mental picture it conjured up — or
had a wicked sense of humour.
Another well-known headline from that era was written for a story about
General Douglas MacArthur being flown back to the thick of the action:
"MacArthur flies back to front."
Convenience is everything in headline-writing. That is why Mark
Philippoussis, finalist in two grand slams, the US Open and Wimbledon,
was immediately christened Scud when he first exploded on the tennis
scene. Why, you ask? Because the word "Scud" is so much easier to fit in
a headline than his given name.
Another handy device is the word "over," a short, handy substitute for
the phrase "because of." Last week, a geography teacher in the United
States faced disciplinary action over the presence of foreign flags in
his classroom. The issue produced the headline, "Geography teacher
suspended over foreign flags." If you read that literally, you'd have to
hope he didn't slip and get impaled on a flagpole.
Some months ago, someone forwarded an email to me with a list of
headlines that can be readily found on the Internet. It's a classic
list. "Typhoon Rips through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead," "Stolen Painting
Found by Tree," "British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands," "Include
Your Children When Baking Cookies," "Police Begin Campaign to Run Down
Jaywalkers," "Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case," "Iraqi Head Seeks
Arms," "Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?", "Red Tape Holds Up
New Bridges," "New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group" and
"Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over."
The paper I work for, a News Ltd. publication called mX, which is
published in Sydney and Melbourne, is a treasure trove for above-average
headlines. When a sunken vessel had haemorrhaged 20,000 litres of diesel
fuel, the story had the headline, "20,000 leaks under the sea." When the
Pirates of the Caribbean sequel dominated the box office as US oil
prices surpassed the psychological barrier of $3 a gallon, the headline
was, "Studio gets many miles to the galleon."
And when tennis player Karolina Sprem failed to capitalise on a good
start in a grand slam tournament, the headline was, naturally enough,
"Low Sprem count."
--
Nishant says
Tell me something about yourself.
Go ahead...tell all
