Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

About 20 years ago, or more, the Columbia School of Journalism published a little book with the title above. It was a collection of headlines that could be read multiple ways. One of my favorites from the early 1970's:

Nixon to Stand Pat on Tapes

"Stand Pat" means to do nothing, maintain the status quo. But when one realizes that President Nixon's wife was named "Pat", it conjures up a whole new image. The wife of the POTUS standing on some audio tapes is a pretty funny image.

Another was:

Milk Drinkers Turn to Powder

So since then, I love watching for bizarre headlines. Here is one from this morning.

Teacher: Reading Leads to Learning

Brilliant! No teacher alive has ever connected the two! Until now!

One of my favorite sources of these headlines is The Opinion Journal's "Best of the Web" by James Taranto. Agree or disagree with Taranto's politics, he usually finds some hilarious headline bloopers.

Here's another link, a web site called Language Jokes * Funny Newspaper Headlines

It is refreshing to be able to laugh at ourselves, and not to take ourselves too seriously. Funny headlines will do that for you. Be on the lookout. But beware, this is dangerous stuff we are talking about. Reading through these again, I laughed so hard I could not breathe. As Monsters, Inc. taught us, laughter and joy are much more powerful than fear.