You'll be hearing from my lawyer (E)

· Home, sweet home? (E)

· Hold your breath (E)

· Watch your step! (E)

By the way, the two last headlines were printed on the same page!

Proverbial sayings can be included into a headline, making it look both familiar and enigmatic at the same time:

Silence is golden in the world of computer calamity (Ts) (cf. Speech is silver, but silence is gold/golden)

Early birds catch cheapest crossings (FT) (i.e. cheaper fares are available for early Eurotunnel bookers. (Cf. It's the early bird that catches the worm)

Rhyme is another favourite with newspaper writers when it comes to headlines:

· Rumble in the urban jungle (E)

· How strict is Maastricht (T) (the Maastricht Treaty)

· Beware the bear (DT)

· Game of the name (E)

· Who owns the Bones? (T) (a dispute over remnants of dinosaurs)

There are other, more sophisticated, devices that are very popular in the journalistic trade. Let us analyse some of them.

Biblical allusions are abundant in newspaper headlines. Not only set expressions from the Bible, but also names of biblical heroes are used to draw parallels between mythological and real events (quite often subheads make these allusions transparent):

China sows seeds of GM crop expansion (T) (to sow seeds of discord)	(China has begun a huge push to commercialise genetically modified crops.)
The Promised Land Just North of Paris (IHT) (promised land)	(A crucial football match is to take place in Saint Denis, a northern suburb of Paris.)
Rivals wash hands of Andersen (DT) (reference is made to the words of Pontius Pilate)	(Andersen, the accountancy business disgraced by its involvement with Enron, is facing further embarrassment as its own industry severs links with the firm.)
Reaping the Whirlwind (T) (He that sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind)
Samson the terrorist (G)	The biblical hero who avenged himself with a suicide mission is not a good role model.)

 

Allusions are quite widely used as the familiarity of the original not only rings a bell, but it can also create a humorous effect. The original can be used without any or with some modifications. The latter must not be too drastic, otherwise the allusion will not be easily recognizable. The most popular allusions are described below.

Allusions to names of well-known films are frequent in headlines:

 

China syndrome (E)	original: China syndrome
Beauty and the priests (E)	(religious prohibition of beauty contests in Malaysia) original: Beauty and the Beast
A Car is born (E)	original: A Star is Born
Dirk Diggler: A Star is Porn (E)	(an article about a film which abounds in pornographic scenes) original: A Star is Born
Holidaying in the rain (E)	original: Singing in the Rain
Pulp friction (E)	Thailand’s largest supplier of pulp for paper fighting for its business against a foreign company) original: Pulp Fiction
Home alone in Europe (E)	(Europeans prefer to watch films at home rather than go to the cinema.) original: Home alone

 

Allusions to titles of well-known books are also extremely popular:

 

A Farewell to Arms (T)	(The military plan to deny guns to abusive spouses.)
A farewell to alms? (I)	(Are the bad old days for the Royal Opera House really over? ) original: A Farewell to Arms by E. Hemingway
Mirror cracks the moral code (G)	(The Mirror newspaper printed Diana's love letters.) original: The Mirror That Cracked by A. Christie
Kamchatka's Future: Paradise Lost? (IHТ)	(The effects of mining affect Kamchatka's unique and fragile environment.)
Paradise Lost? (T)	(As the general election nears, Sweden wonders if it's still a model nation.) original: Paradise Lost by J. Milton
A tale of two hemispheres (I)	original: A Tale of Two Cities by Ch. Dickens
The importance of being learned (Ts)	original: The Importance of Being Earnest by O. Wilde
Call of the wilds (IHT) Call of the wild (G)	original: The Call of the Wild by J. London
The World According tooriginal: The World According to Griffin (the Express)	original: The World According to Garp by J. Irving

 

Puns (play on words) allow to use words or phrases that have two meanings or that sound similar to create a humorous effect:

 

4th Graders in US make Grade (IHT)	(American fourth-graders earn good grades in maths scoring above the international average.)
Let's give thanks we don't yet have Thanksgiving (I)	(The English should be grateful they are spared the burden on their over­stretched family budgets that cele­brating Thanksgiving may involve.)
Profit from the prophets (FT) проповедник	(talks between Greek and Serbian ministers священник to get round the sanctions imposed on Serbia)
Oil's well that ends well (E)	(The billions lavished on analysts seem a good investment.) (a merger between BP and Amoco
The kits that make drivers purr (FT)	(Some drivers find pleasure in building their own cars by buying the basic kit of car parts). The word kits may also be taken for a shortened form for kittens.)
Greek gifts (FT)	Greek gift - a dangerous gift
Fat chance (E)	fat chance - a very slight chance (Fat Americans get a lot of junk mail full of ads for diet pills)
Dutch courage pays off (FT)	Dutch courage - the courage to do smth that one gets from alcohol (The cultural festival in Holland is compared with the famous Edinburgh festival)

 

See also the above mentioned examples Gorbachev Won't Run (IHТ) and Sitting pretty (FT). The latter article deals with debates over the seating plan in the French national Assembly.

A pun can be further complicated when there is play on proper names combined with some other stylistic devices, like the use of a proverb, a set expression, etc.:

 

A sheep in Wolf's clothing? (Ts)	(Markus Wolf, the great East German spymaster, reveals his secrets)
The Worst of Best (DM)	(scandalous revelations from the life of the famous British soccer maestro George Best)
Hood of Robin Hood (G)	(an article devoted to a famous mobster) бандит, гангстер; член шайки
From Soviet Russia, Babel's towering talent (Ts)	(a critical review of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ISAAC BABEL) allusion to the biblical tower of Babel)
Early Byrds still catching the warm (Ts)	(The Byrds group classic hits still warm the audiences.)
Roman's law (E)	(The article analyses the German presi­dent Roman Herzog's relationship with the country's Chancellor.)

 

Combining puns with other devices mentioned above is still another finesse you can come across in newspaper headlines:

 

No pain and lots of gain (T)	(The article deals with frustrations of painless dieting.)
Clearing the skies for the Virgin Mary (FT)	(celebrating Moscow's 850th jubilee)

 

Paraphrase is one more stylistic device that inspires creative approach to headlines. The proposed variant can be based on a familiar slogan, quotation, set phrase, proverb, etc.:

In greed we trust (E)	(In God we trust)
Where no news is bad news (E)	(No news is good news)
Not by Helms alone (E)	(not by bread alone)
From riches to Ragtime (E)	(from rags to riches)
To build or not to build (E)	(to be or not to be)
East End or West End – home is where art is (I)	(East, or West, home is best)
Sweetening the euro pill (G)	(to sweeten the pill)

 

We shall end our review of stylistic devices, used in headlines, by giving examples of phonetic paraphrase, which extends the boundaries of inventive creativity in newspaper writing:

 

Share nonsense (E)	(sheer nonsense - a set expression)
Cool Britannia loses street creed (DT) вероисповедание	(Rule Britannia - the beginning of the national anthem)
From Albright to all-murk (E) [mɜ ː k] 1. мрак, темнота, мрачность	(some gloomy aspects of Madlene Albright's stand on current issues)

 

Reading newspapers, you may have noticed some grammatical irregularities in headlines. These are often caused by the necessity to save space.

The most common space saving techniques involve articles which are quite often omitted.

First person (G)

Russian Ministry Opposes Plans For Quick Oil Company Auctions (WSJ)

US to Step Up Airline Fire Safety (IHT)

Deal on Euro Looks Likely (IHT)

 

The passive voice forms are used without the appropriate form of be. Because of this deletion, the tense of the verb is often not clear in the headline. To avoid thinking that the object is the agent, the reader has to supply the missing form:

PG& E granted Rate Increase (T)	(PG& E has been granted a rate increase.)
3 Freed in Diner Shooting (IHT)	(Three people involved in a shooting at small restaurant were released.)

 

The form of the infinitive represents the future tense, " is going to":

 

Dinner to Bar Some Reporters (IHT)	(is going to bar)
FCC to Study Complaints (WSJ)	(is going to study)

 

The following short verbs and related nouns are frequently used:

 

to bar	prohibit, prevent
to boost (a boost)	increase, support
to eye	look at eagerly, to investigate
to hike (a hike)	increase, especially in costs
to lag (a lag)	delay, slow down
to be off	decrease, appear less than expected
to probe (a probe)	investigate
to push (a push)	encourage, support, exert pressure
to seek	look for, try to obtain
to slash	reduce, cut to an extreme degree
to spark (a spark)	cause, initiate, like the beginning of a fire
to urge	insist, strongly encourage or request
to vow (a vow)	promise in a formal sense

In conclusion, some remarks about the spelling rules. There are no rigid rules that used to be strictly observed some time ago. Most British newspapers have stopped capitalizing headlines, while some American newspapers and magazines continue doing so. In the examples used in this chapter, the original spelling was preserved.

ASSIGNMENTS

1.	Speak of the role headlines play. Do you agree with the statement that headlines are the epitome of newspaper writing? Prove your point.
2.	Discuss some stylistic peculiarities of headline writing. What are they caused by?
3.	Take an issue of a British or American newspaper or magazine and do your own research: find examples illustrating as many of the devices described above as possible. Write them out and translate them into Russian. Will similar devices be used in Russian?
4.	Speak of some grammatical peculiarities of newspaper headlines. Find headlines that reflect these peculiarities. Be ready to analyse them in class.
5.	Find examples to illustrate the spelling rules adhered to by this or that periodical.

 

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