Headlines and wordplay

Så fungerar det

We want to enjoy and create wordplay. A pun uses a word with two meanings or two words that sound alike: The banker lost interest. Headlines also use alliteration (Super Sub Saves Spurs), rhyme and references to well-known phrases.

Good wordplay is short and fits the content: the second meaning must make sense in the story. Explain to yourself both meanings before you keep a pun. In a humorous column, combine wordplay with understatement and a clear structure.

Headline about a bakery winning a prize: Local baker rises to the occasion.

The art of the pun

British newspapers, especially the popular tabloids, are famous for their headlines. Instead of simply stating the news, many headlines try to make readers smile, groan or look twice, and the most common tool is the pun. A pun is a play on words that exploits the fact that one word can have two meanings, or that two different words can sound the same. When a football club's goalkeeper made a series of mistakes, one paper might announce: "Keeper drops the ball". When a story is about a cheese shop closing, a headline could read "End of an era for local brie-tailer". The joke works only if the reader recognises both meanings at once. Headline writers use other tricks too. Alliteration, the repetition of the first sound, makes a headline easy to remember. Rhyme does the same. Many headlines play on famous phrases, song titles or film titles, changing one word to fit the story. A report on a heatwave might borrow the title of a well-known song, while a story about a lost parrot might adapt a famous film line. Not everyone approves. Critics argue that clever headlines can make serious news seem trivial, and that readers who do not share the cultural references may simply be confused. Learners of English often find tabloid headlines particularly hard, because they depend on double meanings, sounds and shared knowledge rather than plain grammar. Yet wordplay is also a sign of how flexible English is. Its huge vocabulary, its many words that sound alike and its long tradition of comic writing, from Shakespeare to modern comedians, give writers endless material. Understanding a pun is a small but satisfying test of how well you really know a language.

Källor

1. Kursplan i engelska, Lgr22, Skolverket