Headlines

“Vincent Musetto, a retired editor at The New York Post who wrote the most anatomically evocative headline in the history of American journalism — HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR — died on Tuesday in the Bronx. He was 74.”

Patients Prescribed Narcotic Painkillers Use More of Them for Longer, Study Finds

— New York Times headline, December 9, 2014

***

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you about Dad.”

“You Won’t Believe How These Experiences are Impacting Your Health” is the headline for an article about the way in which “the connection between early childhood trauma and later health and behavioral problems is stronger than was previously recognized,” so I think we can all agree that…

I know, I know, we shouldn’t reward these kinds of thing, but there is something about the sheer insouciance of the headline, “Nipple, penis, or nostril — what’s the most painful place to be stung by a bee? (The answer might surprise you.)” that compels me to share it with the world.

I have to say, we make fun of the Times a lot, sometimes with good reason and sometimes just because it’s easy and mostly because it still is The Paper To Read, but we should also acknowledge when they do something that elicits a smile, like this headline here. So consider this an acknowledgment. I smiled at least.

— Nathan Rabin (@nathanrabin) February 24, 2014

“[N]othing prejudices the way a reader comes to a piece more than its headline. Nothing is more likely to make him or her believe, even after reading the article through, that the author has said something he has not said and perhaps would never want people to imagine he has said.”