Mea Culpa: Experts in the history of headlines

Questions of style and usage in last week’s Independent

America first: it’s pointless to call Trump’s slogan ‘famous’ (Reuters)

“Expert” is one of those words that should be avoided in headlines. It doesn’t tell the reader anything, except that our report is based on the views of someone who knows what they are talking about. That ought to be taken for granted.

So when the reader comes across a headline such as “Brexit will ultimately destabilise Europe, experts fear”, the first question is: who are these so-called experts? In this case, the question was answered immediately, because the sub-headline was: “Historians warn general election debate displays ‘extremely disturbing’ ignorance of the wider effects of Britain’s departure from the EU.”

In that case, why not put “historians” in the main headline? That was in fact what we did on the story itself, and we called them “experts” in the sub-headline to avoid repetition, which was the sensible way round – but when it was trailed on the front page of the website, we swapped “historians” and “experts”, for no obvious reason.

Escalator jargon: In one of our reports the party’s manifesto promises, we wrote: “On cycling and walking, Labour is promising a step change in investment and policy focus.” That is where using trendy management-speak gets us.

Single-cell killer: We confused singular and plural in this gruesome story: “Flesh-eating bacteria kills seven heroin users in two months.” More than one bacterium was responsible for these deaths, so that should be “kill”.

Over the edge: In a review of salopettes – I have no idea what they are, but I don’t think I am the target market – we described them as being in a “bright, edgy print”. The use of “edgy” to describe rebellious or nonconformist art or fashion has become so common that it now means the opposite.

Never heard of him: In an editorial last week we referred to “America First” as “the famous Trump catchphrase”. “Famous” is one of those adjectives that is always a candidate for deletion: if it’s well known, the reader will know it. But it is definitely redundant here, because a catchphrase is a well-known phrase, usually associated with a famous person. “The Trump catchphrase” tells us all we need to know.