Vocabolario giornalismo

Unit 2 newspapers

Lesson 3: Headlines

Headlines should in theory:

• Encapsulate the story in a minimum number of words.
• Attract the reader to the story and, if they appear on the front page, attract the reader to the paper.
• Reflect the newspaper’s attitude to the news story.

Their visual impact and position in the paper also give the reader an idea of the story’s relative importance.

Over time, headline writers have developed a vocabulary, using words that are short, attention-getting, and effective, instead of more formal and longer words or phrases. They also use a variety of linguistic devices to make their headlines memorable and striking.

Examples and analysis

Analyse the following examples in order to understand how the different linguistic devices work.

Group 1

• Aisle not marry you
• Up before the beak – Peckish swan gives Michael Barrymore a nasty nip
• Labour banks on celebrity support
• Titanic Kate goes on diet

Word and meaning: Group 1

All the headlines in this group play on the potential for ambiguity that can exist in the relationship between word and meaning. For example, the word aisle is a homophone (i.e., identical in sound) of the phrase I’ll. Headline 3, a story about the funding of the Labour Party contains an ambiguous use of the word bank. The word is a polyseme (i.e., has several closely related meanings). It can be a noun meaning an establishment where money is deposited – but it can also be a verb meaning to depend on – the factual meaning required by the story. A serious social issue is therefore headlined by a linguistic joke. Headline 2 makes use of the fact that the word beak is a homonym (i.e., it has more than one meaning, and these meanings are not obviously related). It can mean the jaws of a bird, but it is also a slang term for magistrate or judge. Barrymore has been attacked by a swan but he is also facing a criminal investigation. Headline 4 makes use of metaphorical associations. Titanic means ‘of enormous size’, but also refers to the film of that name, in which actress Kate Winslett starred. Winslett has recently been in the news because she has gained weight.

Group 2

• Brulee madly deeply
• Super cally go ballistic are atrocious
• Eagle is landed
• Join the Kew for the bloom with a phew

Intertextuality: Group 2

Any culture will have a range of familiar phrases and sayings and, in the case of English culture, many of these come from popular songs, films, book titles, etc. Headline writers often make reference to these, as in the examples in group 2. For example, headline 1 refers to a well-known film (“Truly, Madly, Deeply”). Headline 2 makes a reference to a nonsense word that was coined for the children’s film, Mary Poppins, supercalifragalisticexpialidocious. Headline 3 makes reference to the title of a well-known novel: Jack Higgins’ The Eagle has Landed. Headline 4 recalls the novel and film A Room with a View.

Group 3

• Stupid Sophie gagged by the palace
• Hit and myth
• Edward faces a roasting at royal meeting
• Tony’s phoney-war cabinet

Though headlines are written to be read, not spoken, a very common way o