In the spirit of celebration of the end of our midterm today, where we had to write a 12-character count hed and a 25-character count dek, I stumbled across this really lengthy hedline on baltimoresun.com
"William F. Buckley Jr., 82, Dies; Sesquipedalian Spark of Right"
I think this may be one of the lengthiest obit heds I've ever seen, not to mention one of the most confusing ones. When I write obit heds at The Arizona Republic, we rarely rarely rarely ever have that sort of luxury of space to go hog-wild with using the word "sesquipedalian." What does that word even mean?! According to this blog, which further discusses the hed, it is from the Latin word for "a foot and a half." I don't know about all of you, but that hed is just a way to make the reader feel pretty stupid. (I know it made me feel that way!)
Monday, March 3, 2008
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2 comments:
Well, if you purport or aspire to be a professional journalist, and you don't know what English words mean, it's aprobably appropriate to feel a little inadequate.
And if you purport or aspire to be a professional of anything, it'd be wise to learn manners and not comment rudely, or rather if you do, have the gall to post your name along with it.
I liked the post, Amanda.
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