Saturday, November 03, 2007

The Perils of Wordplay

New York Marathon Crosses New Bridge: Cancellation Risk
So, I'm looking at the Saturday Wall Street Journal, and I glance at this headline. At first I'm thinking, oh, they changed the route and the runners are going over a bridge they never did before? No, wait, cancellation risk. Oh -- a bridge got rebuilt, or maybe didn't get rebuilt, and the race may get canceled because people are all jumpy about bridges since that Minneapolis collapse. Yeah, that's it. Oh, wait.

Oh.

(The photo of an actual bridge didn't exactly speed my brain's slow, slow recognition that the marathon is figuratively crossing a new bridge.)

1 comment:

JD (The Engine Room) said...

"Hey, we've got a great photo of a bridge that we don't have to pay for. Let's use that."

"Why don't we have a headline that plays on 'bridge'? What's a good bridge metaphor? Crossing a bridge? OK."

That's sometimes how it works on my magazine.

And then someone changes the photo at the last minute and it all makes even less sense (or more, on occasion).