Headlinese

Headlinese is the compressed, syntactically distorted form of writing that is frequently found in newspaper headlines. It is characterised by:

• verbing nouns (and vice versa);
• the frequent use of contractions, such as Pols (for "politicians"); Dems (for "Democrats"), GOP (from "Grand Old Party", a nickname for the Republican Party), and so forth.
• the use of short nouns where a longer one is used in the article; "talks" for "debates" or "negotiations", for example.
• the use of alliteration and other rhetorical figures to capture interest.
• discarding accuracy and nuance in favor of concision, e.g. "Ford to City: Drop Dead".

Variety magazine is well known for brief, witty headlines that often contain jargon that is possible because this is a specialized periodical covering the entertainment industry. (E.g. Hix Nix Stix Pix meant that rural audiences rejected movies with rural settings.) However, many people are more interested in collections of alleged, possibly apocryphal, "headlines" that contain humorous solecisms, such as:

• "Mad Cow Talks in Washington"
• "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge"
• "Mounting Problems for Young Couples"
• "Hospital Sued by Seven Foot Doctors"