Sometimes a double meaning can be a good thing
I cannot begin to remember how many editorials I have done since I have been with The Franklin County Times, much less how many total I have done at different jobs over the years.
One thing that I do recall is regaling the people who peruse my column more than once with the in’ s and out’ s of my job experience and my responsibilities around the office.
So I must once again inform you put together the opinion pages. I told you all that part to get to this little anecdote.
Since I put together the opinion page, I am responsible for coming up with the headlines that run over the columns that my coworker Kellie writes.
The particular column I am referring to may be found at the top of this very page. I read everything that goes on the opinion page in order to edit it, so I know what the editorial is about. Teenagers are wearing inappropriate clothing to prom, and Kellie doesn’t like this. Nor do I.
I don’t have a lot of time to spend crafting headlines, and I’ll be the first to admit that writing them is not my strong suit. I usually come up with something on the spot that will work to top the piece.
We had a section of class at UNA where our professor, Dr. James Martin, talked about his tie dyed tied Thai tie.
That’s another show, but I wanted to mention his favorite play on words involving neckwear.
He showed us funny headlines that had unintentional — or otherwise — double meanings.
For example, “Governor swears in Legislature” has a humorous double meaning that is not necessarily intended the “funnier” way.
I had a similar thing happen to me when I wrote the headline for the preceding column about the prom clothing.
I wanted to say that inappropriate prom clothing should never leave the store, so I typed in a headline that fit the story well. However, after looking at it more carefully, I realized that it could have a double meaning and was borderline racy for this family publication.
Also, Kellie did not approve of its use, so naturally I substituted something less humorous.
I did, however, decide to write an editorial of my own. This one.
