LL-L "Orthography" 2006.02.12 (03) [E]

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   L O W L A N D S - L * 12 February 2006 * Volume 03
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2006.02.11 (03) [D/E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Orthography
>
> Your theory of money-motivated intended ambiguity may come off as a
> conspiracy theory to some, but I have a feeling it does apply in some
> cases. In this case it may or may not apply.  It's a free-of-charge
> weekly "off-beat" newspaper that is supported only by advertising.
> It's one of the best sources for entertainment schedules with its
> focus on the "alternative scenes."  It seems to pride itself for being
> on the unconventional, avantgarde and oftentimes audacious and risqué
> side, apparently directed mostly at people in the 20s and 30s and
> unconventional and artsy folks that are beyond that.  So if there was
> any intention at all behind the wording of the headline it may have
> been to puzzle and dazzle the reader with a smart-alecky twist.
> However, I have a feeling that in most such cases the alternative
> reading of headlines does not occur to journalists, since they know
> what they mean and focus on it.

I don't think that would make much difference to the commercial
argument, since they'd still have to maximise their circulation to keep
advertisers interested. If they're anything like the free computer
papers here, the advertisers will be judging the magazine content,
especially things like the letters page, to decide whether plenty of the
right sort of people are taking an interest.

I'm not saying that all journalists necessarily understand the reasons
behind headline construction, although surely most must have given some
thought to why they write them in a specialised compact language rather
than clear English. Even the non-thinkers will have been told by their
boss at some time, "Never mind if it's clear, just make it short and
exciting", and go on to do that for the rest of their working lives.

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2006.02.11 (03) [D/E]

Here are some more examples:

Children make delicious snacks
Stolen painting found by tree
I saw the Grand Canyon flying to New York
Court to try shooting defendant
Ban on nude dancing on Governor’s desk
Red tape holds up new bridges
Iraqi head seeks arms
Blair wins on budget, more lies ahead
Local high school dropouts cut in half
Hospitals are sued by seven foot doctors
Two sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout counter

and, of course, my favourite:

Prostitutes appeal to Pope

Some more genuine newspaper headlines along those lines are found here: 
http://www.anvari.org/shortjoke/Newspaper_Headlines/

Gabriele Kahn 

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