A little summer light reading.During the dog days of summer (although technically over August 11, when Sirius, the Dog Star, stopped rising at the same time as the sun), let's take time out for a chuckle or two. The following is excerpted from Leads, the online newsletter from the Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ, formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi . The previous week, Leads asked for people's favorite headlines. Here are a few. Favorite Headline #1 Edgar Miller Edgar Miller (born June 1, 1901) was an American football player. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966. was managing editor of the Chattanooga Times in the 1980s when a runner named Virgin won a foot race. The sports department came up with the headline: "200 chase Virgin across finish." For some reason, the publisher nixed it. Favorite Headline #2 Susan Schwartz of the Press Enterprise in Bloomsburg, Penn., recalls when a heat wave swept through Pennsylvania and the local electric company was busy doing maintenance during what is usually a low-demand time of the year: The headline? "Heat wave catches PP&L with its plants down." And Also ... Susan's favorite headline, however, ran in the New York Post The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily.[3] Since 1976, it has been owned by Australian-born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and is one of the 10 after Marv Albert Marv Albert (born June 12, 1940) is an American television and radio sportscaster, honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks". was fired shortly after reports he was a cross-dresser. "Marv gets pink slip" Favorite Headline #3 Rebecca Dudley of the Brush News-Tribune in Colorado was a copy editor when Chief Justice Warren Burger Noun 1. Warren Burger - United States jurist appointed chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by Richard Nixon (1907-1995) Burger, Warren E. Burger, Warren Earl Burger retired from the Supreme Court. Her paper's headline? "Burger to go." What's so great about being funny? There's nothing "great" about funny headlines, says SPJ SPJ Society of Professional Journalists SPJ Self-Protection Jamming SPJ Small Project Job SPJ Steel Pile Jacket SPJ Spool File by Job Agent member Renee Petrina. "As a copy editor, I appreciate the occasional funny head, but that's not what I strive for--especially not the obvious pun," says Renee, a "self-professed grammar and usage nitpicker nit·pick intr.v. nit·picked, nit·pick·ing, nit·picks To be concerned with or find fault with insignificant details. See Synonyms at quibble. nit ." "I don't mind that Leads is collecting headlines. In fact, I've been happy to see more mentions of copy editing in Leads recently. But please call them funny or quirky or amusing. Just not 'great.' "What I would call great headlines are rarely funny, but they have fantastic verbs." |
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