On headlines

Thanks Nick, for recalling (your comment, yesterday's posting) a Straits Times headline which in part had "Anwar probed". If the headline writer had done so unintentionally, it was definitely a boo-boo; if it was intentional, bad taste, man!

The story was about the Malaysian opposition leader going to court to clear his name on his earlier sodomy conviction and his being questioned by counsel. I am sure I have the exact phrasing of the actual headline in my collection and I will post it when I find it.

Staying with headlines, one of the most famous was one in 1982 from the tabloid, The New York Post. It is self-explanatory: "Headless body in topless bar".

I tried to recall if there was a headline in 2000, when it was Bush the Younger vs Al Gore in the famously messed-up presidential election, that went like this: "Bush whacked, Al gored". But I could not find anything from an online search and so must assume it was made up by a very witty punster.

The headlines in the Today newspaper are usually punchier than (fill in the blanks) but this one today (18 Nov) is kinda iffy: "For his battlefield heroics, soldier gets rare honour."

The story is about a real hero, an American soldier who risked his life to save others in a firefight in Afghanistan. He was conferred the Medal of Honour, the most prestigious military award and hence a rare one. My quibble is that while "heroics" can indeed mean "heroic deed or deeds", it can also mean "exaggerated behaviour". So why use this word when "heroism" fits the bill?

I know I'm about to be immodest, but I have won two Headline of the Year awards (admittedly eons ago). One was "Hill Street blues", referring to the then Hill Street hawker centre having to be demolished. There was at the time a popular American TV show with that title.

My other award winner was "Cheat chats", which referred to university students who found a way to make free calls from the phone booths in their hostel.

Currently, the Headliners section of The Sunday Times come under me. Two headlines I had fun with were "Diplomatic impunity?" and "Goodbye, Mr Snips". The first referred to the former Romanian diplomat, Silvio Ionescu, who had claimed diplomatic immunity in a hit and run case in which a man later died.

The second referred to Anglo-Chinese School's "famous" barber, Mr Raju, who was finally hanging up his scissors after decades of giving ACS boys and staff members his famous haircut. (Declaration: I was a customer of his, although not an ACS boy). The headline was a play on the book (and movie), "Goodbye, Mr Chips".