# Headline writing 101 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993 "2006-02-24T23:11:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/1 "2006-02-24T23:11:38Z")
[Brazil bishops say go easy on Carnival sex, booze](http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=FTW04MYHJWZIQCRBAEZSFEY?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=11332703) I saw this headline, and I just assumed it was a message to the bishops’ priests and other moralizers. You know, “Sure, drunken fornication is usually a major sin, but this is Carnival–it’s just to be expected! Give 'em a couple of Our Fathers and don’t make such a big deal out of it!” Wacky Brazillians, I thought. _We_ should be so lucky! Seriously, though, since when does “go easy on” mean “abstain from”? Even understood correctly, it sounds like the bishops are saying, “A little sex? A little booze? Why not? Just go easy on it!” Any other amusing headlines recently? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/2 "2006-02-24T23:15:11Z")
Before anyone stones me, I do know that (marital) sex and boozed are not completely verboten to Catholics, even _during_ Lent. I still think it was a poorely worded and amusing headline. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/3 "2006-02-24T23:16:04Z")
The Chicago Tribune produces a short, “hip”, commuter tabloid, the Red Eye. I read it most days because it has a good sudoku and it’s free. Last week, they had a story on a synagogue being vandalized with swastikas and neo-Nazi graffiti. The headline: “Hate crime in Uptown?” Gee, that’s a very good question. Let me ponder. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/4 "2006-02-24T23:35:23Z")
Okay, it’s as bogus as “Eats shoots and leaves” but my favorite of that ilk is the one about the escaped mental patient who raped a woman near the asylum: “Nut bolts and screws.” ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/5 "2006-02-25T02:27:53Z")
As someone who actually writes the damn things, I was kinda proud of this [one.](http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/11/100wir_b6testy001.cfm) ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/6 "2006-02-25T18:57:49Z")
Sighted a few months back in the U.K. edition of Metro, the free commuter newspaper, atop a story about an effort to change drug laws: “Legal Blow Hopes Dealt Legal Blow” And of course let us not forget The Sun’s all-time great inspired a few years back by lowly Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s upset win at mighty Celtic’s home ground in the Scottish FA Cup: “Super Cally Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious” ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/7 "2006-02-25T19:18:50Z")
A yahoo news headline: [“Deer die after antlers lock during combat.”](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060225/ap_on_sc/locked_antlers) Duh. This is a surprise? Also, what’s the point of this article? The whole thing seems to be a very silly thing to make national news. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/8 "2006-02-26T01:27:08Z")
There’s the classic: Harvard Defeats Yale 10-10. No, that’s not a typo. Clever, yet subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/9 "2006-02-26T01:28:09Z")
> [@JonScribe](#): > > As someone who actually writes the damn things, I was kinda proud of this [one.](http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/11/100wir_b6testy001.cfm) So, I suppose you could say that Pemberton gives good headline, testy though she may be. I like the last line in the article though. Apparently, there was a hung jury. My question is, was it a well-hung jury? ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/10 "2006-02-26T01:32:24Z")
I saw this one yesterday: Holy Shiite Tomb Attacked [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1658478](http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1658478) Olive ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/11 "2006-02-26T01:36:48Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Harvard Defeats Yale 10-10. … I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headline-writing-101/345993/12 "2006-02-26T13:10:22Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > … > > I don’t get it. Maybe the score isn’t quite a victory for either school, but a tie is as good as one for Harvard?