Just say no to bad "puns"...

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:51 am

I had to trudge over to sports and convince their slot to change one of their heds again.Union College is in our circulation area. Anyway, I don't follow sports, but something happened in a hockey tournament that caused them to be eliminated. Can't quite recall the circumstance.First edition comes up:in 48-point: Goal a Union-busterThe sports guy thought this was especially clever, seeing as that a couple thousand GE workers were developing frostbite on a picket line a couple miles away.Convinced him to change it, although he was protesting that it had the potential to win a headline-writing contest. That I don't doubt.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 3:45 pm

Actually, I think that hed is pretty clever, and one I certainly WOULD use if not, as you pointed out, for the union workers on strike nearby. The issue of being sensitive to them is secondary (to me) to the issue of clarity -- obviously, there's potential for reader confusion.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 4:48 pm

Jim...Again, I disagree. I think the allusion to "union-buster" is stupid and offensive, regardless of whether there is a strike down the road.It doesn't make sense.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:10 pm

I would agree if we were talking about disparing a gender, or an ethnic group, or the disabled, or some other sort of organically exclusive collection of beings. But I don't think we owe union members the same level of sensitivity.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:51 pm

Yes we do.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:54 pm

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

And it's "Battle of the Celebrity Copy Editors"! There's Bumfketeer planting a left hook to the hed, and Jim, standing dazed, left asking, "Why?" :)[ January 17, 2003: Message edited by: Emily Salmon ]

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 12:23 am

Well, Jim, I just don't see any reason to take a dump on a particular group of people with a dumb hed pun. That goes for union members, second basemen, lingerie models, hosts of children's shows or anything else.Not a battle, Emily...just a testy exchange of opinions. I always welcome others' opinions, even if they usually are half-assed.Just kidding.

Guest · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 4:28 pm

Yes, we're all professionals here, and it ain't personal. If I ever meet Bumf, I'm sure I'd buy the first round ... assuming I make it out of the first round of this. :) Anyway ... I just can't see this your way, Bumf. It's almost as if you're saying that everybody should be protected from satirical treatment. And, in my mind, the hed in question is not doing that ... or trying to do.We'll just agree to disagree. Vive la difference and all that crap.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 4:45 pm

The important thing to remember is that the "Union-busting" headline was stupid. As a Schenectady native, I've seen every possible play on "Union" and each of them was moronic.

Testy Copy Editors

Just say no to bad "puns"...

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