# Pretty poor headline writing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217 "2013-03-06T19:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/1 "2013-03-06T19:52:51Z")
The headline: _Former Playmate Welcomes Baby Boy_ The opening lines of the story: \*Holly Madison has some bunny new to love! The former Girls Next Door star and her boyfriend Pasquale Rotella welcomed a daughter on Tuesday, March 5 in Las Vegas, a source confirms to PEOPLE.\* ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/2 "2013-03-06T21:09:18Z")
The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey (right across the Hudson from NYC), ran a headline about the sentencing for a particularly nasty trial: SEVEN YEARS FOR NECROPHILIA. The headline ran on September 11, 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/3 "2013-03-06T21:43:09Z")
From today’s Gawker - [You Should Read the New York Times Magazine Essay About the Death of Nora Ephron by Her Son](http://gawker.com/5988953/you-should-read-the-new-york-times-magazine--essay-about-the-death-of-nora-ephron-by-her-son) I thought for a minute that Nora Ephron had been murdered by her son. And so did plenty of other people, judging by the comments that went up within minutes, pleading for them to fix that headline. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/4 "2013-03-07T02:10:00Z")
Years ago I read an article by H. Allen Smith about his days on a local newspaper, I think in southern Illinois. Their society columnist (a very well-bred lady) had written up a story about a family named Cockburn, who had just been married and gone off on honeymoom. The headline the columnist put at the head of the column, and which appeared in the paper, was, “COCKBURNS OFF ON WEDDING TRIP” Mr. Smith said that the columnist ever after refused to talk about this with anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/5 "2013-03-07T02:13:10Z")
The other stories are amusing but, in my opinion, different from somebody reporting the birth of a daughter as a baby boy. That’s just bone-headed wrong. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/6 "2013-03-07T02:19:00Z")
From Reader’s Digest looong ago: “City Imposes Mandatory Time for Prostitution” “Two Ships Collide, One Dies” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/7 "2013-03-07T02:41:42Z")
I once saw an astrology column in the local paper, calling Simon Cowell the day’s “birthday gal.” ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-poor-headline-writing/652217/8 "2013-03-07T03:46:28Z")
[This](http://deadspin.com/5988729/) was in my hometown paper yesterday. The mind boggles.