It's all in your head
Via Romenesko, a column in The Washington Post yesterday about headline writing contains this paragraph: "Good copy editors also need to have dirty minds, not so they can write a nasty headline on purpose, but so they don't do it accidentally. (Any story about an organ recital, for example, should be approached verrrry carefully.)"
When I read those two sentences I thought of an e-mail I got last month concerning a headline about converting some downtown Greensboro streets into two-way arteries. The headline read: "Some streets downtown will soon go both ways." The e-mail chastised us for using a risque double-entendre. Sheltered soul that I am, I had to read it twice to understand why we were being accused of having dirty minds.
Comments (3)
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Being that I'm the local "King of Double-entendre" I'm sure I could teach you a few things. Lesson 1. Listen to lots of old Blues records then try to pen a few yourself.
Posted on November 8, 2004 6:32 PM
Better yet , John, watch the Jay Leno show newspaper headlines sections, if it isn't past editots bedtime.
Posted on November 9, 2004 10:19 AM
I learned all my good stuff working in Sports. It got the "going both ways" reference right away. Had to stay away from it on stories about football players who played both offense and defense -- in high school.
Posted on November 9, 2004 11:42 AM