When I worked at the Ladies’ Home Journal, my colleagues and I regularly had to come up with catchy headlines or leads that were plays on words. When the three of us wanted to gag, we knew we’d hit on the one that our bosses would love.
Love it or hate it, wordplay is a media fact of life. Some recent and less recent examples:
- From “Iron Chef Thanksgiving”: Across the country, turkeys are very, very nervous. Take a gander …
- Headline in the UK’s Daily Mirror in anticipation of a Siberian cold front: To Russia with Gloves
- New York Post cover showing Tiger Woods dropping a ball during the time period of his very public marital woes: Tiger Puts Balls in Wrong Place Again
- Along the same lines, another New York Post cover story about General Petraeus’ affair: Cloak and Shag Her
- A Los Angeles Times headline: Big Rig Carrying Fruit Crashes on 210 Freeway, Creates Jam
- Some two dozen or more headlines about Senator Ted Cruz include the words: Cruz Control
- When the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT ) banned its media from using wordplay in its coverage of events, one U.S. headline read: SAPPRFT to “Pun”ish Media that Use Play on Words
A quick search online revealed these examples of puns in editorial and advertising headlines:
- New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
- Juvenile Court Tried Shooting Defendant
- Residents Warned to Protect Fish and Hens to Avoid Otter Devastation
- The Greatest Flow on Earth (regarding Golden Corrals’ caramel, chocolate and white chocolate fountains)
And, of course, any time there’s talk about basketball, somebody on TV asks what all the hoopla is about.
Have you heard some good media wordplay lately? Or better yet, some downright terrible public wordplay? Please share. I know I could use a laugh.
Please follow and like us:
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.