Kingsley Amis on headline English
A recent wordplay ban (excellent discussion by Nicole Stockdale) made me think of Kingsley Amis' views on headlines. I reproduced the punctuation as best I could, though I often disagree with it; heck, I can't say I agree with a lot in the text, either, but I still think it both instructive (utile) and amusing (dulce).
Kingsley Amis, _The King's English_, pp. 95-98.
Headline English
It is no secret that newspaper headlines no longer content themselves with announcing pieces of news in abbreviated but relatively unphilistine language. Nowadays headlines come in several styles. One is the over-informative, such that not only the piece of news is given but also what followed from it, so that we learn before we start to read that story that not only has Chancellor raised interest rates, say, but also that his doing so has 'fuelled' a Tory 'panic' about this or that. I like a headline to state straightforward non-clever things like PRIME MINISTER ASSASSINATED. To add details or consequences ahead of time is to weaken both the story and one's desire to read it, as if anyone cared.
But such matters are not my concern; other styles of headline are. A particularly barbarous one is to take advantage of the hospitality of the language to the use of nouns as adjectives; thus an escaping couple cease to be an ESCAPING COUPLE and become an ESCAPE COUPLE. A string of unleavened nouns will form a whole headline. Three nouns stuck cheek by jowl was once the limit, but now four is standard. Some months ago two tabloids gave their front pages to SCHOOL COACH CRASH DRAMA and SCHOOL OUTING COACH HORROR and a week or two later one of them achieved five with SCHOOL BUS BELTS SAFETY VICTORY. There is some loss of decent seriousness here, as if anyone cared.
This loss is clearer with the style of headline that uses puns or otherwise plays with words. Last month an understandably giggly tabloid carried the following in a single issue:
Page 1. Picture of a pretty girl who had just had a success. Caption: 'A star is born: British actres Julia Ormond gets a pig part.' Headline reads, 'Movie queen is crowned', i.e. is to play Queen Guinevere in £40m King Arthur film.
2. Headline reads, 'Still on tract for more rail misery'.
3. Headline reads, 'Arnie [i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger] his true self after pregnant pause'. [His part in a recently made film had required him to simulate pregnancy.] Also headline reading, 'Careerof Julia the obscure is into top Gere'', i.e. the actor Richard Gere is to star as Sir Lancelot in the film. An accompanying photograph is captioned, 'Knight movies: Richard Gere makes his point [flourishes sword] while rehearsing his Lancelot swordplay.' Copy contains the sentence, 'In showbusiness terms, unknown actress Julia Ormond has found the Holy Grail.' On the same page, a large photograph of another actress is captioned, 'Dressed to thrill: . . . at premiere of new Arnie film.'
5. Headline reads, 'We're on the road to photo licences' [i.e. to the introduction of driving licences that carry a photograph of the licencee].
6-7. Headline reads, 'Crying all the way to the bank' [Barclays' profits, customers' grievances].
7. Headline reads, 'Food firms find health guide hard to stomach'.
10-11. Headline reads, 'Food firms boil over with anger as Brussels goes sour on soya milk'.
12. Headline reads, 'Banned be thy name' [a church authority has banned the use of pet-names etc. in gravestone inscriptions].
17. Headline reads, 'How our garden paradise was lost' [through nasty neighbours].
18. Headline reads, 'Border skirmish over a hedge'.
21. Heading: 'Crusoe, your island awaits'. Headline reads, 'Talking heads' [on solicitors' wigs].
23. Headline reads, 'A hot issue' [on crematoria]. Headline reads, 'Cine season'.
24. Headline reads, 'Extra time to save Graces' [statuary].
There follows a financial feature with eighteen headlines and no wordplay in ten pages.
The effect of all this in one issue is to make human concerns seem trivial to the reader. But what sort of reader is being looked for? If any, an unusual sort, one well acquainted with the Arthurian legends who knows about Jude the Obscure and much else in literature and yet is at home with 'Arnie' and talking heads. And when we read of somebody headlined in this tabloid and another as 'death husband' and 'kidnap horror man', and puzzle out that the same person is meant, we may start to suspect that, as in the case of much modern poetry, the journalists concerned are not really interested in an identifiable reader. They are just playing a silly game among themselves. After all, they have to fill the paper somehow whether they have anything to say or not.
Stop Press (to use an outdated expression): The other day I read in the columns of a 'quality' newspaper -- in the body of a story, not in a headline -- that bird-protection societies had been sent all of a twitter by something or other. Oh God, when will it end?
Kingsley Amis, _The King's English_, pp. 95-98.
Headline English
It is no secret that newspaper headlines no longer content themselves with announcing pieces of news in abbreviated but relatively unphilistine language. Nowadays headlines come in several styles. One is the over-informative, such that not only the piece of news is given but also what followed from it, so that we learn before we start to read that story that not only has Chancellor raised interest rates, say, but also that his doing so has 'fuelled' a Tory 'panic' about this or that. I like a headline to state straightforward non-clever things like PRIME MINISTER ASSASSINATED. To add details or consequences ahead of time is to weaken both the story and one's desire to read it, as if anyone cared.
But such matters are not my concern; other styles of headline are. A particularly barbarous one is to take advantage of the hospitality of the language to the use of nouns as adjectives; thus an escaping couple cease to be an ESCAPING COUPLE and become an ESCAPE COUPLE. A string of unleavened nouns will form a whole headline. Three nouns stuck cheek by jowl was once the limit, but now four is standard. Some months ago two tabloids gave their front pages to SCHOOL COACH CRASH DRAMA and SCHOOL OUTING COACH HORROR and a week or two later one of them achieved five with SCHOOL BUS BELTS SAFETY VICTORY. There is some loss of decent seriousness here, as if anyone cared.
This loss is clearer with the style of headline that uses puns or otherwise plays with words. Last month an understandably giggly tabloid carried the following in a single issue:
Page 1. Picture of a pretty girl who had just had a success. Caption: 'A star is born: British actres Julia Ormond gets a pig part.' Headline reads, 'Movie queen is crowned', i.e. is to play Queen Guinevere in £40m King Arthur film.
2. Headline reads, 'Still on tract for more rail misery'.
3. Headline reads, 'Arnie [i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger] his true self after pregnant pause'. [His part in a recently made film had required him to simulate pregnancy.] Also headline reading, 'Careerof Julia the obscure is into top Gere'', i.e. the actor Richard Gere is to star as Sir Lancelot in the film. An accompanying photograph is captioned, 'Knight movies: Richard Gere makes his point [flourishes sword] while rehearsing his Lancelot swordplay.' Copy contains the sentence, 'In showbusiness terms, unknown actress Julia Ormond has found the Holy Grail.' On the same page, a large photograph of another actress is captioned, 'Dressed to thrill: . . . at premiere of new Arnie film.'
5. Headline reads, 'We're on the road to photo licences' [i.e. to the introduction of driving licences that carry a photograph of the licencee].
6-7. Headline reads, 'Crying all the way to the bank' [Barclays' profits, customers' grievances].
7. Headline reads, 'Food firms find health guide hard to stomach'.
10-11. Headline reads, 'Food firms boil over with anger as Brussels goes sour on soya milk'.
12. Headline reads, 'Banned be thy name' [a church authority has banned the use of pet-names etc. in gravestone inscriptions].
17. Headline reads, 'How our garden paradise was lost' [through nasty neighbours].
18. Headline reads, 'Border skirmish over a hedge'.
21. Heading: 'Crusoe, your island awaits'. Headline reads, 'Talking heads' [on solicitors' wigs].
23. Headline reads, 'A hot issue' [on crematoria]. Headline reads, 'Cine season'.
24. Headline reads, 'Extra time to save Graces' [statuary].
There follows a financial feature with eighteen headlines and no wordplay in ten pages.
The effect of all this in one issue is to make human concerns seem trivial to the reader. But what sort of reader is being looked for? If any, an unusual sort, one well acquainted with the Arthurian legends who knows about Jude the Obscure and much else in literature and yet is at home with 'Arnie' and talking heads. And when we read of somebody headlined in this tabloid and another as 'death husband' and 'kidnap horror man', and puzzle out that the same person is meant, we may start to suspect that, as in the case of much modern poetry, the journalists concerned are not really interested in an identifiable reader. They are just playing a silly game among themselves. After all, they have to fill the paper somehow whether they have anything to say or not.
Stop Press (to use an outdated expression): The other day I read in the columns of a 'quality' newspaper -- in the body of a story, not in a headline -- that bird-protection societies had been sent all of a twitter by something or other. Oh God, when will it end?
posted by aparker54 at 2:16 AM
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