<VV> Will the Corvair Kill You?

[BobHelt at aol.com]

Bob Marlow
 
How the heck are you? It's been soooooo  long!
Good to hear from you.
 
I understand your explanation and have seen it in use  many times. And I 
suppose that it does get results. But my opinion is  that the this type of 
"new fangled" headline writing was (is) a precurser  to the now major problem 
of Fake News appearing everywhere.  The title it's  self  
is really fake  news.'
That headline may get attention  but to me it reads........"Has the Corvair 
stopped killing people yet?"  
 
I guess the whole concept lies in the so called  Coarsening of the Culture. 
Our language has changed too. More slang, more dirty  words being used, 
less grammatical discipline....and on and  on.
 
Call me  "Old Stuck in the Mud" I  guess.
 
Bob Helt
 

 
 
Bob Helt, you confess that you risk sounding like "an old fuddy-duddy," but 
 as a card-carrying old fuddy-duddy myself I am here to opine that "Will 
the  Corvair Kill You?" is a GREAT title!

I say this as someone who has been  dealing with print headlines since 1969 
and online titles more  recently.

Years ago, a proper print headline for this topic might have  been "Is the 
Corvair Safe, Hagerty Asks," or the even less interesting "Hagerty  Tests 
the Corvair's Stability."

Today, headline-writing has evolved into  online subject-line writing, and 
the purpose is no longer to tell what the story  is about, but to entice 
readers to click on the story.? That's why so many of  them are now phrased as 
questions ("Is Donald Trump the Child of Space Aliens?")  or the more common 
(and less intelligent) "You Won't Believe" format ("They  Tested Donald 
Trump's DNA and You Won't Believe What They Found!")

While  you can argue correctly that the Corvair has been proven to be safe, 
whether we  like it or not it is still strongly associated with "Unsafe."? 
The Hagerty  article and video support the conclusion of safety, and the 
"Will the Corvair  Kill You?" headline gets people to read the story.

It's a great headline  because it is modern, intriguing, effective -- and 
appropriate.

--Bob  Marlow