The first trophy for headline writing ever granted by this website was awarded to the Metro today for Friday’s brilliant and daring “FBI Plucks Street’s Blackberry.” The headline wins on so many levels. First of all, it assumes that the public knows what a BlackBerry is — not a safe assumption by any means — the foreignness of the word is the key to its brilliance. It is such a surreal, alliterative, and juicy word that readers will pick up the paper just to find out what it is and why Street’s was plucked. “Plucked” itself is a fun word — it rhymes imperfectly with Black, and paints a picture of FBI agents frolicking in the woods picking berries from the bushes alongside the path to grandmother’s house. “Plucks Street’s” is an awkward combo that you can’t say 10 times fast. “Street’s Black” subtly alludes to the underlying racial divisiveness of the mayoral election campaign.
The Knight Rider papers struck out with the bland “Street Computer Seized: Mayor’s e-mail device is in FBI Hands” (Inquirer), and the slightly more interesting “Feeding the Feds: Street Administration Coughs Up More Documents in FBI Probe” (Daily News). I like the word “Seized,” but “Computer” is misleading — it makes you think of a bulky desktop machine. “Feeding the Feds” does allude to the fruit, but “Coughs Up” is just plain gross.
Follow-up note (posted 10/12/03): The Daily News did come through with the headline “Blackberry Jam” over a picture of the email device on its reverse cover. “Jam” is a nice addition to the language of the competition because it’s sticky, but it is far from the poetry of the Metro’s “Plucks” headline.
