Is it just me, or was anyone else confused by the following Bee headline: California Fugitive Caught with $70,000 in Shoes.
It turns out that the man, Rosevillian Christopher Warren, did not, as I had originally thought, have $70,000 worth of shoes on him when caught, but rather had $70,000 in cash stuffed in his shoes. I had just pictured this man burdended with a Santa-sized sack of stilettos trying to cross the Canadian border and it made me smile.
The Sac Rag 
What do you expect? The Bee fired all the copyeditors a long time ago. I think they’re outsourcing editing to India, now, along with the “design” and ad sales departments.
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Thank you for noticing this! I only clicked on the story because I was curious why a real estate dealer had invested in sneakers or loafers, and instead found the cowboy boots. Truly disappointing.
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It’s actually Associated Press copy editors if its a wire headline.
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FFT – yes and no. the headline came from the AP, but the Bee still formats headlines when they insert the story.
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So what’s the problem here? The headline isn’t in error and it makes you want to read the story to figure out what the hell happened – and that was most likely the hed writer’s intent. I know we live in a Twitter age, but for shits sake, sometimes word choices can be subtle, and sometimes it’s necessary to get into the second paragraph of a story.
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headlines need to be clear and easily understood. obv this one has clarity issues, whoever’s fault it is.
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Headlines need to be short and to the point. What you’re asking for is a headline that explains the whole story. In any case, the headline used the most common meaning of “in” (used to indicate inclusion within space, a place, or limits). Stickie was confused because he assumed the more colloquial version of “in” (because he understandably hoped that the actual story involved $70k of shoes). So now headline writers need to account for every possible meaning of the words they use? So, “Neighbors say they heard a popping noise before plane crash” instead of “Neighbors say they heard a ‘pop’ before plane crash” so that someone doesn’t think soda was involved?
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Um, all people need to account for every possible meaning of the words they use. To test my theory, next time your friend gets novacaine for a tooth thing tell them their face looks stupid (as in dulled in sensation).
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A few weeks ago they wrote about a piston(should be pistol) that was involved in a shooting.
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I’m still wondering how you get 70 grand into your shoes.
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