Testy Copy Editors

Our new website is up and running at testycopyeditors.org. This board will be maintained as an archive. Please visit the new site and register. Direct questions to the proprietor, blanp@testycopyeditors.org
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 2:22 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours




Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 9:45 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 1286
Location: Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Mother Who Stoned 2 Sons to Death Acquitted on All Charges<p>*This hed from NYT site, though accurate, is misleading. Something like "... judged insane" would have been better. How have other papers handled the verdict in heds?*


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 9:47 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 1286
Location: Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Also, is "acquitted on" acceptable usage?<p>Perhaps I shouldn't be picking on NYT. The story was from AP. I wonder if the hed was, too.<p>[ April 04, 2004: Message edited by: ADKbrown ]</p>


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 11:55 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:01 am
Posts: 43
Location: Washington, D.C.
The AP did send over, "Mother who stoned two sons to death acquitted on all charges"<p>Dallas Morning News:
Laney acquitted in deaths
Mom found insane in 2 sons' killings could go to mental hospital


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:43 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Dallas
My biggest gripe in this is saying she stoned them to death. <p>She bashed the children's heads in with one stone each. To stone is different, no?<p>[ April 05, 2004: Message edited by: Nicole Stockdale ]</p>


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:40 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 598
Location: The Herald in Everett, WA
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Nicole Stockdale:
My biggest gripe in this is saying she stoned them to death. <p>She bashed the children's heads in with one stone each. To stone is different, no?
<hr></blockquote><p>I didn't look it up in a dictionary, but I'm inclined to agree with you. If she bashed them over the head repeatedly with a brick, one wouldn't write that they were "bricked," but that appears to be the reasoning. Like you, I think stoning is entirely different action. I wonder if "stoning" found favor in this case because it carries some religous implications, as did her motive for killing the kids.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:25 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Dallas
I think that's exactly right. "She stoned them to death because God told her to." That, and I think they're trying for a bit of euphemism.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:23 am 
Offline

Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 887
Location: U.S.A.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by contrarysounding:
The AP did send over, "Mother who stoned two sons to death acquitted on all charges"<hr></blockquote><p>One caveat about those "suggested headlines": they're not. I seem to recall Norm Goldstein saying at October's ACES/Ohio conference that those headlinelike blurbs are "story summaries," not suggested heads. He was responding to a question about the dubious quality of those "suggested headlines."<p>More often than not, those "summaries" work as headlines. But the lesson here is not to automatically treat them as if they were professionally written headlines.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:47 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 598
Location: The Herald in Everett, WA
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gary Kirchherr:
More often than not, those "summaries" work as headlines. But the lesson here is not to automatically treat them as if they were professionally written headlines.<hr></blockquote><p>You're absolutely right, and I would add that since many stories are updated throughout a work shift, the original suggested headline (that's what I call them) can often be inaccurate.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Oversimplification
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 11:02 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:01 am
Posts: 43
Location: Washington, D.C.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>To stone is different, no?<hr></blockquote><p>Yes, if Shirley Jackson is to be believed ...<p>[ April 09, 2004: Message edited by: contrarysounding ]</p>


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 9 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group

What They're Saying




Useful Links