Daily Express: A Generation Hat is Ignored and Scorned
Cuttings: AI in court and Telegraph trauma
2 weeks ago
Showing posts with label headline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label headline. Show all posts
A Generation Hat is Ignored and Scorned
I did mention this great typo on Twitter yesterday but I think it's worth recording for posterity on the blog. You never know, the Daily Express might get around to fixing it at some point:
Daily Express: A Generation Hat is Ignored and Scorned
Daily Express: A Generation Hat is Ignored and Scorned
Headlines: 'Blears jumps ship as Labour sinks'
Today's thelondonpaper has an interesting front page headline:
This is, of course, referring to Hazel Blears' resignation as communities secretary.
However I've always thought that someone who 'jumps ship' doesn't just leave one ship but joins another (metaphorically speaking).
To an extent, the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2nd Edition) agrees with me, saying:
So before reading the full story, I took thelondonpaper's headline to mean that Blears had jumped one ship (the Labour Party) to join another (probably the Conservative Party). I was, obviously, wrong.
And if you consider the literal meaning of 'to jump ship' - "to leave a ship without permission while it is temporarily in a port in the middle of a trip" (Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms) - there's no reason to involve a second 'ship'.
So why do I feel like it was a bad choice of headline?
Blears jumps ship as Labour sinks
This is, of course, referring to Hazel Blears' resignation as communities secretary.
However I've always thought that someone who 'jumps ship' doesn't just leave one ship but joins another (metaphorically speaking).
To an extent, the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2nd Edition) agrees with me, saying:
if you jump ship, you leave a job or activity suddenly before it is finished, especially to go and work for someone else
So before reading the full story, I took thelondonpaper's headline to mean that Blears had jumped one ship (the Labour Party) to join another (probably the Conservative Party). I was, obviously, wrong.
And if you consider the literal meaning of 'to jump ship' - "to leave a ship without permission while it is temporarily in a port in the middle of a trip" (Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms) - there's no reason to involve a second 'ship'.
So why do I feel like it was a bad choice of headline?
Missing chef 'has come to harm' (maybe)
Here's a recent BBC News story where the headline and the body copy fail to agree:
The headline says the missing chef has come to harm, whereas the body copy says she "may have" and (in the quote) "has probably" come to harm. That's a big difference, especially for Claudia Lawrence and anyone close to her.
BBC News: Missing chef 'has come to harm'
The headline says the missing chef has come to harm, whereas the body copy says she "may have" and (in the quote) "has probably" come to harm. That's a big difference, especially for Claudia Lawrence and anyone close to her.
BBC News: Missing chef 'has come to harm'
Headline: Overturned lorry driver arrested
Thanks to my colleague Ro for pointing out this BBC News headline:
This suggests that it is the driver that overturned, not the lorry (although the driver probably did overturn with his vehicle).
This suggests that it is the driver that overturned, not the lorry (although the driver probably did overturn with his vehicle).
Press release: stop next generation dying
One of my colleagues recently passed me a press release from road safety charity Brake with the following headline:
Quite an ambitious – and worrying – aim!
Local education project to stop next generation dying
Quite an ambitious – and worrying – aim!
London Lite, Apple, iTunes and headline-writing
The London Lite made an interesting headline choice today. Here's the headline in question and part of the story:
The London Lite could easily have gone with a negative rather than positive headline - after all, some songs are increasing in price by 20p. It would have been just as accurate, and we all know that bad news sells.
So why didn't it? Perhaps because the headline writer liked the play on words of 'Apple slices', or perhaps because the original press release was also positive (as press releases invariably are). Perhaps, for some reason, the London Lite didn't want to upset Apple. Who knows?
Apple slices 20p off iTunes songs
Apple is introducing a new pricing structure to iTunes, meaning the cost of some tracks will fall by 20p to 59p. From April, a three-tiered system will see songs priced at 59p, 79p and 99p. Currently, all tracks cost 79p.
The London Lite could easily have gone with a negative rather than positive headline - after all, some songs are increasing in price by 20p. It would have been just as accurate, and we all know that bad news sells.
So why didn't it? Perhaps because the headline writer liked the play on words of 'Apple slices', or perhaps because the original press release was also positive (as press releases invariably are). Perhaps, for some reason, the London Lite didn't want to upset Apple. Who knows?
I'm half a headline, get me out of here...
Right. After today I'm going to stop picking on the freesheets for a while.
Spotted this on page three of yesterday's London Lite (and sorry about my wonky cutting and scanning):
Yes, there's part of the headline missing. Is this an honest mistake (and we've all made them) or the result of a sub trying to suggest that the celebrities in reality show I'm a Celebrity... are actually nonentities?
(For those who can't see the scan, the headline reads: "Deadly storms threat to the I'm A ".)
Spotted this on page three of yesterday's London Lite (and sorry about my wonky cutting and scanning):
Yes, there's part of the headline missing. Is this an honest mistake (and we've all made them) or the result of a sub trying to suggest that the celebrities in reality show I'm a Celebrity... are actually nonentities?
(For those who can't see the scan, the headline reads: "Deadly storms threat to the I'm A ".)
'Average credit card interest rates have surged'
Spotted on the front page of yesterday's thelondonpaper:
My Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines a surge as "as a sudden powerful forward or upward movement... a sudden large temporary increase".
I'm not sure that an increase from 17.2 to 17.6% over a six-month period is either large or sudden. In short, not what I would call a surge.
Following on from that, I think 'surge' is one of those words that is massively overused by newspapers, not just in headlines (because it is shorter and sexier than 'increase') but also in body copy.
UPDATE 14/11/08: Our web editor points out that a key attribute of a surge is its temporariness. So does thelondonpaper believe that interest rates will soon decrease? I'm sure the writer didn't give it that much thought when he chose the word 'surge'.
Average credit card interest rates have surged from 17.2 to 17.6 per cent since May, according to banking research experts Defaqto.
My Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines a surge as "as a sudden powerful forward or upward movement... a sudden large temporary increase".
I'm not sure that an increase from 17.2 to 17.6% over a six-month period is either large or sudden. In short, not what I would call a surge.
Following on from that, I think 'surge' is one of those words that is massively overused by newspapers, not just in headlines (because it is shorter and sexier than 'increase') but also in body copy.
UPDATE 14/11/08: Our web editor points out that a key attribute of a surge is its temporariness. So does thelondonpaper believe that interest rates will soon decrease? I'm sure the writer didn't give it that much thought when he chose the word 'surge'.
Hed, dek, graf, lede and so on
It's a custom on some publications to write 'hed' instead of 'head' or 'headline', 'graf' instead of 'paragraph', 'dek' instead of 'deck', and so on. Not in the copy itself, of course, but in notes for the production staff and when labelling up copy.
I've read that the deliberate misspellings are to make sure that these words don't get mistaken for copy and accidentally printed.
We don't use 'hed', 'graf' and so forth on our publications – perhaps it's only a US custom and not a UK one. (Having said that, I've never worked for one of the big papers here in the UK, so I can't really say either way.)
Instead, what we do when labelling up copy or introducing notes into copy is to use [SQUARE BRACKETS AND ALL CAPS]. For example:
---
[NOT FOR WEB]
[HEAD]
This is the headline
[STANDFIRST]
And this is the slightly longer standfirst...
---
These [SQUARE BRACKETS AND CAPS] really jump out at you and are very unlikely to sneak into print. It hasn't happened in the three years I've worked for the company, anyway.
And yes – we use 'standfirst' rather than 'deck'. I assume they are similar. I've also heard them referred to by freelancers as an 'intro'.
On our publications, we don't have an equivalent term for another common journalise misspelling: 'lede' (the leading sentence in a story). And we use 'lead' to refer to the main story on a page or spread.
If anyone could shed any more light on the 'hed, dek, graf, lede' practice I would be grateful. I'd also like to hear what production staff do on other publications.
And here are some interesting links I've found:
I've read that the deliberate misspellings are to make sure that these words don't get mistaken for copy and accidentally printed.
We don't use 'hed', 'graf' and so forth on our publications – perhaps it's only a US custom and not a UK one. (Having said that, I've never worked for one of the big papers here in the UK, so I can't really say either way.)
Instead, what we do when labelling up copy or introducing notes into copy is to use [SQUARE BRACKETS AND ALL CAPS]. For example:
---
[NOT FOR WEB]
[HEAD]
This is the headline
[STANDFIRST]
And this is the slightly longer standfirst...
---
These [SQUARE BRACKETS AND CAPS] really jump out at you and are very unlikely to sneak into print. It hasn't happened in the three years I've worked for the company, anyway.
And yes – we use 'standfirst' rather than 'deck'. I assume they are similar. I've also heard them referred to by freelancers as an 'intro'.
On our publications, we don't have an equivalent term for another common journalise misspelling: 'lede' (the leading sentence in a story). And we use 'lead' to refer to the main story on a page or spread.
If anyone could shed any more light on the 'hed, dek, graf, lede' practice I would be grateful. I'd also like to hear what production staff do on other publications.
And here are some interesting links I've found:
Headline: Lorry Hijackers Sought
Our news editor has drawn my attention to a news story on Northern Ireland web directory 4NI which has an amusing if slightly worrying headline:
It appears that criminal masterminds are becoming bolder in their recruitment techniques...
Lorry Hijackers Sought
It appears that criminal masterminds are becoming bolder in their recruitment techniques...
Headline: 48PT HELVETICA BOLD HEADING
Spotted a bit of a blooper on the thisiscornwall.co.uk local news site. If you can't see from the picture below, the headline of this news story reads:
48PT HELVETICA BOLD HEADING
Oops. Looks like somebody forgot to supply a headline...
48PT HELVETICA BOLD HEADING
Oops. Looks like somebody forgot to supply a headline...
Headline: Diligent Bankers' present in Budapest
One of the news stories on our intranet has a highly ambiguous headline:
Before you read on, I invite you to guess the main thrust of the story using only the headline as guidance. If it helps (which it doesn't), the headline was accompanied by a picture of a smiling woman.
Ready? OK, here are my own wrong guesses and then the correct answer:
At first I thought the headline might be referring to a gift given to or by a group of bankers. But why are they diligent? And why do they deserve a capped-up 'B'? Perhaps there is an organisation called 'Diligent Bankers'...
My second interpretation was that the same group of bankers (or organisation) is simply present in Budapest, for some unknown reason. And of course, that would fail to explain the apostrophe.
Only upon reading the story did I learn that the headline referred to a presentation given in Budapest by employees of a banking publication – the title of which could, at a push, be shortened to Bankers'. Why were these non-bankers diligent? Because their presentation was on due diligence, of course.
Anyone guess that?!
Diligent Bankers' present in Budapest
Before you read on, I invite you to guess the main thrust of the story using only the headline as guidance. If it helps (which it doesn't), the headline was accompanied by a picture of a smiling woman.
Ready? OK, here are my own wrong guesses and then the correct answer:
At first I thought the headline might be referring to a gift given to or by a group of bankers. But why are they diligent? And why do they deserve a capped-up 'B'? Perhaps there is an organisation called 'Diligent Bankers'...
My second interpretation was that the same group of bankers (or organisation) is simply present in Budapest, for some unknown reason. And of course, that would fail to explain the apostrophe.
Only upon reading the story did I learn that the headline referred to a presentation given in Budapest by employees of a banking publication – the title of which could, at a push, be shortened to Bankers'. Why were these non-bankers diligent? Because their presentation was on due diligence, of course.
Anyone guess that?!
Headline: Mum left tot in car to booze
Ambiguous headline of the day goes to today's Daily Mirror with:
When I read this I initially thought the tot was left to booze (in the car), when in fact the mum went boozing while the tot was just left.
Nice headline words too: 'tot' and 'booze'. When was the last time you saw the word 'tot' outside a tabloid?
The Mirror's web version of the story
Mum left tot in car to booze
When I read this I initially thought the tot was left to booze (in the car), when in fact the mum went boozing while the tot was just left.
Nice headline words too: 'tot' and 'booze'. When was the last time you saw the word 'tot' outside a tabloid?
The Mirror's web version of the story
Headlines: cop office
Was quite taken aback by a headline in yesterday's London Lite free newspaper:
There is something incongruous about the headline for such a horrific story including the uncommon yet jaunty phrase 'cop office'. I understand that it was chosen for reasons of space – being several characters shorter than 'police station' – but still.
What would I have used instead of 'cop office'? I'm not sure. 'Cop shop' has the advantage of being an established phrase (at least here in the UK), but is possibly even jauntier than 'cop office'. And if you went with 'police station' you would have to lose some of the other information in the headline. For example:
Stabbed dead
outside empty
police station
Here I've had to drop 'Boy, 14' – but as the story was accompanied by a photo of the victim, I think that's acceptable. What do you think?
Correction: I've just discovered (by actually reading the story properly) that the police station in question was a "neighbourhood policing office" rather than a "regular police station". I'm not sure what the precise difference is, but it makes the original headline more accurate. Saying that, the online version of the story, which has fewer space restrictions, uses "police station" rather than "cop office"...
Boy, 14, stabbed
to death outside
empty cop office
There is something incongruous about the headline for such a horrific story including the uncommon yet jaunty phrase 'cop office'. I understand that it was chosen for reasons of space – being several characters shorter than 'police station' – but still.
What would I have used instead of 'cop office'? I'm not sure. 'Cop shop' has the advantage of being an established phrase (at least here in the UK), but is possibly even jauntier than 'cop office'. And if you went with 'police station' you would have to lose some of the other information in the headline. For example:
Stabbed dead
outside empty
police station
Here I've had to drop 'Boy, 14' – but as the story was accompanied by a photo of the victim, I think that's acceptable. What do you think?
Correction: I've just discovered (by actually reading the story properly) that the police station in question was a "neighbourhood policing office" rather than a "regular police station". I'm not sure what the precise difference is, but it makes the original headline more accurate. Saying that, the online version of the story, which has fewer space restrictions, uses "police station" rather than "cop office"...
Headline: Virgin named as top Rock suitor
Today's confusing headline of the day comes courtesy of the BBC News site:
It took me a moment to twig that the virgin in the story is Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Ordinarily the initial cap of 'Virgin' would have given it away but as the word started the headline the visual clue was lost.
Branson, of course, set up the Virgin Records music label so it then took me another moment to realise that the 'Rock' the story refers to isn't the music genre but the troubled British bank Northern Rock.
Before you ask, I first saw this headline on the BBC News homepage and totally failed to note the small 'Northern Rock' image which might otherwise have clarified things. A picture of Richard Branson's grinning visage may have been preferable. And it's not often that I say that.
Virgin named as top Rock suitor
Virgin named as top Rock suitor
It took me a moment to twig that the virgin in the story is Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Ordinarily the initial cap of 'Virgin' would have given it away but as the word started the headline the visual clue was lost.
Branson, of course, set up the Virgin Records music label so it then took me another moment to realise that the 'Rock' the story refers to isn't the music genre but the troubled British bank Northern Rock.
Before you ask, I first saw this headline on the BBC News homepage and totally failed to note the small 'Northern Rock' image which might otherwise have clarified things. A picture of Richard Branson's grinning visage may have been preferable. And it's not often that I say that.
Virgin named as top Rock suitor
Other engine rooms, other gremlins
One of our cherished freelancers spotted the following headlines on holdthefrontpage.co.uk:
and, every sub's nightmare:
Not to be left out, I must own up to a memorable typo at the end of a motor show preview some years ago: "See next week for a dull report". Yes, 'd' is right next to 'f' on the keyboard and spellcheckers, as we all know to our cost, don't pick up typos that make real words – but did that get me of the hook? Of course not.
- Arranging the death of a loved one isn't easy
- 12 die in 30 minutes as car bombers target Shite area
- Child sex field at family fun event
- Shoreham wind turbine talks
and, every sub's nightmare:
- Think of a headline
56pt bold headline
Not to be left out, I must own up to a memorable typo at the end of a motor show preview some years ago: "See next week for a dull report". Yes, 'd' is right next to 'f' on the keyboard and spellcheckers, as we all know to our cost, don't pick up typos that make real words – but did that get me of the hook? Of course not.
Headline: energy needs to grow
Recently I was thrown by a headline used on a BBC News Science/Nature story:
Missing the single quote marks, I took this to mean 'energy has to grow inexorably', leaving me wondering how energy can grow. What the headline actually meant was 'energy needs are set to grow inexorably'.
For once, this bit of verb/noun confusion wasn't even caused by a lack of headline space...
Energy needs 'to grow inexorably'
Missing the single quote marks, I took this to mean 'energy has to grow inexorably', leaving me wondering how energy can grow. What the headline actually meant was 'energy needs are set to grow inexorably'.
For once, this bit of verb/noun confusion wasn't even caused by a lack of headline space...
Headlines: children job seekers
A couple of dodgy headlines today. The first, from yesterday's Daily Mail (October 4):
The first time I read this, I wondered who these children job seekers were, and why the headline didn't appear to make grammatical sense. Of course, the Daily Mail has elided a 'that' between 'children' and 'job', presumably for reasons of space. Very confusing.
And Gingerous sent in the following headline from the BBC News website:
He asks: "Why was a 10-year-old driving a car?"
Wikipedia says that "sometimes a 'car accident' may refer to an automobile striking a human or animal" but I agree that it's not the most common use of the phrase. It does have the benefit of not implying that Gerrard was to blame, unlike a lot of alternative phrases.
Agony of the children job seekers leave in Romania
The first time I read this, I wondered who these children job seekers were, and why the headline didn't appear to make grammatical sense. Of course, the Daily Mail has elided a 'that' between 'children' and 'job', presumably for reasons of space. Very confusing.
And Gingerous sent in the following headline from the BBC News website:
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been involved in a car accident with a 10-year-old boy
He asks: "Why was a 10-year-old driving a car?"
Wikipedia says that "sometimes a 'car accident' may refer to an automobile striking a human or animal" but I agree that it's not the most common use of the phrase. It does have the benefit of not implying that Gerrard was to blame, unlike a lot of alternative phrases.
Headlines: surrogate mother of 11
Ambiguous headline of the month goes to the Daily Mail with the following effort:
The story focused on a surrogate mother of 11 children, rather than an 11-year-old surrogate mother. In the paper's defence, the photo accompanying the story did give a large clue as to the correct interpretation of the headline.
The Mail used a different headline for its online version of the story, but the same image.
Expecting kids, the surrogate mother of 11
The story focused on a surrogate mother of 11 children, rather than an 11-year-old surrogate mother. In the paper's defence, the photo accompanying the story did give a large clue as to the correct interpretation of the headline.
The Mail used a different headline for its online version of the story, but the same image.
Headlines: gay toilet sex scandal
Gingerous Humerous Maximus has emailed in the following headline from Sky News: Washington rocked by gay toilet sex scandalHe asks: "Can you get a gay toilet?"
I was thinking about how this headline could be recast to avoid the unfortunate attribution of 'gay' to 'toilet'. Something like 'Gay sex in toilet' scandal rocks Washington is shorter, clearer, and active rather than passive, but it does have to rely on inverted commas - and relegates Washington to the end of the headline.
Of course, the simplest solution would be to hyphenate 'toilet' and 'sex': Washington rocked by gay toilet-sex scandal
Any other suggestions?
