Groaner headlines.

An obscure law of journalese requires headline writers to come up with groaners whenever possible. Thus, any headline about fishing must contain the verb hook, any business story about a bakery must have dough in the head, Victoria Secret quarterly reports are revealed, and whenever an old saloon goes out of business it’s ” The last call for…”

What brings this on was this beaut of a groaner in The Boston Globe, Apr. 1, 2018: “L.L. Bean boots up for Seaport store.”

File under: At least they didn’t use Beantown.

www.JournaleseDictionary.com