The following are culled from headlines I have personally seen, or from friends who have clipped them for me.
Some of these editors should maybe find alternative employment?
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*Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter*
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*Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says*
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*Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers*
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*Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over*
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*Miners Refuse to Work after Death*
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*Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
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*War Dims Hope for Peace*
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*If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile*
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*Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures*
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*Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide*
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*Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges*
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*Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge*
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*New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group*
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*Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft*
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*Kids Make Nutritious Snacks*
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*Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half*
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*Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors*
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*Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead*
Comments
Keep in mind that headlines
Keep in mind that headlines sell papers. If you can catch the eye with an accurate header that doesn't seem to make sense, that means someone might buy it.
(The whole 7 foot doctors, for example. )
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Perhaps
Perhaps, as they seem to employ people that don't know how to write. Although I do like some of headlines. Makes for a great way to let the imagination roam.
But seriously I think they do those mistakes on purpose. Why? Because it draws you to it to read. We want to know how that veterinarian took over for the panda that didn't succeed. Or how many jaywalkers were killed by rogue cops.
:0)
My Stuff
I probably should proof read my own stuff before sending it off to my editor but I'm too lazy to do so lol.
I always proof before sending it to my editor
And have found it's a waste of time. Well probably not as I find lots of errors, but you'd be surprised at how many are missed. Having written the story you know what it says and is easy to skip over or see things that aren't written. We're really lucky here for having volunteers doing the hard work, Arecee
One way to catch things you
One way to catch things you missed the first time is to proofread your story from the end to the beginning. Read backwards one word at a time until you get to the beginning of a sentence then read the sentence, then move to the end of the previous sentence and do it again.
By reading each word individually out of order you can catch misspellings, by reading the sentences out of order you trick your mind into reading what's there and not what you MEANT to write.
I think it shows a lack of common courtsey to the reader
Those types headlines dives me up the wall. Honestly I have quit reading the paper and it is partly because of such nonsense headlines. The reason. Think about it if they can't accurately report the article in the headline how can I be sure what I read in the body is accurate. The short answer is I can't.
proof reading
It seems to me that most headlines are possibly targeted at those who have no clue on how to write the English language. I am sure most think readers are a gaggle of unsophisticated backwoods boneheads who don't know anything. A jobs a job even if your bad at it. I guess its the paycheck at the end of the week for most so ....... more at a 1100
rues
Some "News" Should Be Labled as Fiction
Note this true story occurred long before there were cell phones (about 45 years ago):
At my college I went to a one hour lecture by the late poet, Alan Ginsberg. His talk was interesting. After the speech I walked out and passed the pay telephones and heard a reporter giving his synopsis of what Mr. Ginsberg said. If I didn't know better I would have sworn that I was at a different lecture than the reporter.
Moral: take what you read in the papers or on the internet with some skepticism.
shalimar
Wrong type of snow!
Although I generally have little sympathy for the press, I do suspect that several of these are written to draw a wry smile, and at the same time catch the attention of the reader.
Many years ago, railways in the UK were severely disrupted by snow, and in the face of severe criticism, a representative of the railways wryly admitted it had been the "wrong type of snow." It was intended as a joke but all the newspapers pounced on it, and branded the man and the company as total idiots.
As someone who is prone to similar humour, I do think it's a pity when people fail to see the joke.
Snow sorts
Indeed, I was in the UK when that event happened. Have they had a "wrong sort of leaf" in Autumn yet?
I was late for work here once (yes, Swiss Rail DO have delays sometimes) and I told the boss that it was because of the wrong type of rain. He didn't have the background to understand what I was saying. It was quite a nice giggle to start the day with.
Keep well
J
Snow and leaves - with references for the pedantics
Wrong type of snow
According to The UK travel Blog 'Back in 1991, British Rail’s Director of Operations Terry Worrall was quoted as saying “we are having particular problems with the type of snow†which was translated in the Evening Standard as “The wrong type of snow†causing the railway disruption.'
The problem being fine powdery snow being sucked into the air intakes - a problem that crippled Eurostar in 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/dont-bla...
Leaves on the line
Another natural phenomenon that has gone down in history as another excuse for rail delays in the UK, although this report from 2000 atributes 'leaves on the line' as the cause of a derailment. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1372007/Leaves-on-lin...
Not a joke!
The representative was quite correct. The kind of snow we get in the UK is usually soft and sludgy, with big wet flakes, as our winters rarely get cold enough. The sort of snow found in most of the continent (and probably the US/Canada as well) is often of small, dry powdery flakes that have a different consistency.
Now imagine that being drawn into the radiators of an electric locomotive as it travels along. I was caught out by this in the Midlands when some new electric units, manufactured and tested in Austria, were introduced to new routes here. They didn't like it! The same happened to some Eurostar units recently, if you remember. Worked one side of the Channel, not the other.
Penny
It seems fairly clear, then...
...that the "errors" depend upon the confluence of multiple areas of ignorance on the part of both the press and the average reader, as so very many things do. Where, oh where, might a decent liberal education be when one really needs one?
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Hilarious!
It took me a while to get thru these because I had to stop and laugh so often! I needed this. Thanks so much! **Sigh**
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell
I personally think these were
I personally think these were done for comedic effect.
One thing to bear in mind
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, Remember, a large percentage of humanity is gullible enough to believe anything, no matter how farcical.
And it's true; "Bullshit Baffles Brains".
S.
Seen in the Arkansas Gazette 25 Years Ago
This was a headline for an article on the first page of the state section of the paper, "Woman Shoots Naked Man With Knife". The Arkansas Democrat bought out the Gazette a long time ago. There hasn't been any improvement. The local newscasters are even worse.
Portia