The hook imperative

There’s a journalese law that requires headline writers to use the word “hook” for any story involving fishing or the seafood industry. A great example of this was headline in the  Boston Herald, Nov. 20, 2016:  “Millennium hooks Stavis Seafoods for planned marine park facility.” If the deal gets screwed up, it will flounder over tangled lines. And if the deal fails, it will be deep-sixed, and the developer will cast a lure for another catch.  When the Boston waterfront property owned by James Hook Lobster is finalized for development, the developer will have it trapped.