Up & Coming Weekly

THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET A Good Chuckle by MARGARET DICKSON My mother and I both worked in our family broadcasting business, and we both did many different jobs, including copywriting. Copywriting is the craft of writing commercial announcements for advertisers, who pay the radio or television stations to broadcast them. They are known in the trade as “spots,” and more specifi cally as 30s or 60s to designate their length, and they are priced accordingly. When done well, copywriting can be almost an art. We all remember wonderful commercials we have seen and heard, and good ones can send a product or service’s sales through the roof. That is why advertisers pay really big bucks for clever spots to be aired during the Super Bowl, for example. The goal is to be snappy and memorable. The same is true of printed headlines in newspapers and magazines. The good ones pull you into the story, which may or may not be as interesting as the headline, but the headline did get you to read further. But pitfalls abound in both crafts, and my friend Frank Till — not the Cumberland County School superintendent but the Frank Till formerly of the Fayetteville Academy — who has turned out to be a terrifi c emailer in his retirement, sent me these headlines gone awry, complete with editorial commentary. These are lessons in why  people like me who write for public consumption need to have other people read their work before it goes to press, or we might fi nd out what true embarrassment is. I generally refrain from Internet pass-alongs, but these are just too good. I hope you enjoy them as much as the Dicksons did. Entitled Proofreading is a Dying Art, here they are. • Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter (It apparently took an editor of that paper three reads before he spotted the problem with that one!) • Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says (No, really? Ya think?) • Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers (Now that’s taking things a bit far!) • Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over (What a guy!) • Miners Refuse to Work After Death (No good- for-nothing lazy so-and-so’s!) • Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant (See if that works any better than a fair trial!) • War Dims Hope for Peace (I can see where it might have that effect!) • If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last A While (Ya Think?!) • Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures (Who would have thought!) • Enfi eld (London) Couple Slain; Police COUNTY COMMISSIONER ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “As your Representative on the Board of County Commissioners I will work toward leading our county into the future with progressive leadership and your guidance.” - Ed Melvin As your Cumberland County Commissioner, I will: • Continue open communications with all Citizens • Seek out ways to keep our property taxes as low as possible. • Support our Sheriff’s Department and their endeavors in reducing the overall crime rate in our communities • Strive to improve the Quality of Life for all of the Citizens of Cumerland County • Work with the Business Sector to assure continued economic growth of our County • Work with All Educators to ensure that our education dollars are spent where it will bene t our children the most • Support Senior Citizens Endeavors • Support county wide water  WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Paid for by The Committee To Elect Ed Melvin Ed’s Tire and Auto Service - Founder serving the Fayetteville area since 1972 Member, Village Baptist Church Vietnam Veteran County Commissioner - 1996-2000, 2003-2004, 2006-2010 APRIL 21-27, 2010 UCW 5 Suspect Homicide (They may be on to something!) • Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges (You mean there’s something stronger than duct tape?) • Man Struck by Lightening: Faces Battery Charge (He probably is the battery charge!) • New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group (Weren’t they fat enough?!) • Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half (Chainsaw Massacre all over again!) • Kids Make Nutritious Snacks (Do they taste like chicken?) • Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors (Boy, are they tall!) And the headline winner is….. • Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery: Hundreds Dead! Now that we have had a good chuckle at the expense of headline writers, I will share a radio spot that once aired on behalf of a Fayetteville department store which was having a sale. The spot urged listeners to come take advantage of the great values on “blue women’s pocketbooks.” You guessed it. That sale was really on “women’s blue MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET 

• Cover