Do bad threads always end with question marks?

[davidbishop]

Joking, I'm joking! But the propensity of thread titles ending in question marks reminds of a drinking session I once had with a Daily Mail journalist (yes, he was ashamed of himself).

He said anytime you saw a headline in the Mail (ditto London's Evening Standard) that ended with a question mark, the answer to the question was almost always no. The same rule of thumb might well apply to threads with titles that end in question marks.

Try it and see for yourself...

davidbishop

[Bico]

Get off the brandy, you!

[ukdane]

Do bad threads always end with question marks? ...the answer to the question was almost always no.

The same rule of thumb might well apply to threads with titles that end in question marks.



and thus creating a paradox that even (Star Trek's) Ira Steven Behr would be proud of.

;-)

[Rob Spalding]

Hmm, don't think it works with my recent thread:

"What's your favourite Dredd epic?"

"No."

Unless there is one called No that I haven't heard of.

[Art]

ARE GAY LEOPARDS EATING OUR CHILDRENS THUMBS?

[Conexus]

with that grammar, obviously not ;)

[Queen Firey-Bou]

Its very heartening to note that a great ex-tharg droid type can also start ridiculous off topic threads, hurrah !  another point for the off-topic brigade.

should nonsense threads be banned ?
has Mr bishop eaten too much of his aunt mauds cherry trifle ?


...shit, i havent even opened my prog 2006 yet, thanks for reminding me.

[Trout]

LOL!

That's said throughout journalism, David, and I completely agree with you.

In my long history - almost two months - of working as a news sub-editor, I have never written a headline with a question mark in it.

I also ruthlessly excise all exclamation marks from copy.

I've gone a bit cut-happy, actually.

The power...

- Trout

[Art]

Theres a technique in poorly made American news shows* where just before a break they ask a question with a seemingly obvious answer such as "Are crabs descended from monkeys?" and then add "The answer might suprise you!".

This lets you know two things:

1) the answer they give after the break won't suprise you, as it will be the exact opposite of the obvious answer to the question

2) the "answer" they give will be at best an exageration and at worst disengenious and bordering on outright wrong, as they will have twisted the story into hoops in an effort to give it a comeling "hook".


*Almost all of them.

[Quirkafleeg]

I hope you are writing innuendo laden headlines, trout... "Villagers shocked by huge erection" etc

[Funt Solo]

Reminds me of the Scottish tabloid headline "Is Boy George Buying This Castle?"

Negatory.

[Mike Carroll]

The "question-mark in the sentence" theory doesn't always work for message-boards, unfortunately, but you're right on the money with it working for newspaper headlines. "Is there life on Mars?" crops up with alarming regularity, and - once you filter through the bull - the answer always boils down to "no".

Speaking of headlines (this is way off-topic, but it's worth it)... Many years ago one of my mates found a report in the evening paper that debunked the myth that rabbits are more promiscuous than humans. The truth, according to the newspaper, is that people indulge in snuggles a lot more frequently than bunnies. The headline: "Man beats rabbits in sexual activity."

Mike C.

[Quirkafleeg]

I've just remember the (now ancient) book of The Not The Nine O'Clock News tv show 'NOT!' (a spoof of long forgotten short-lived news magazine 'NOW!'). It had the front cover head line 'IS THE SHAH REALLY DEAD? Turn to page 23'. On page 23 there was just a massive 'YES!'

[davidbishop]

Mike C wrote: Speaking of headlines (this is way off-topic, but it's worth it)... Many years ago one of my mates found a report in the evening paper that debunked the myth that rabbits are more promiscuous than humans. The truth, according to the newspaper, is that people indulge in snuggles a lot more frequently than bunnies. The headline: "Man beats rabbits in sexual activity."

It could have been worse. Man beats off rabbits in sexual activity, for instance. Then again, a British woman has just married a dolphin in Israel, so anything's possible. Apparently.

davidbishop
my blog: http://viciousimagery.blogspot.com/
my bad: pretty much everything else, to be honest.

[The Amstor Computer]

Blogtastic!

(...and a nice little confirmation of the return of Fiends of the Eastern Front to the Meg :-) )