Stylistic Devices and Creativity in Popular Science Headlines 313dinosaurs, Love and loss on the Seine, Lowcountry legacy, Blessed cursed
claimed, Monkeys of Morocco, Flying in the face of peril, The power of
photography, Comeback croc, Cross currents, Prince of prints, Russian
refuge, The generous gulf and The field relations go gourmet.
One can also find the following 11 conventional metaphors: Rainforest
for sale, Breaking the silence, The weed that won the West, Quicksilver,
The new face of hunger, Cowboys on the edge, Bringing them back to life,
Flying in the face of peril, Sugar love, The power of photography, English
by the book (where ‘by the book’ means following the rules).
As far as the use of compounds is concerned one can find them in the
following 8 headlines: Quicksilver, The ship-breakers, Star-eater, Mindsuckers,
The comeback croc, Spacewalker, Meltdown and Wasteland. In addition,
the following 3 phrasal verbs are present: Drones take off, Maxed out on
Everest and The things they brought back. There are also 5 sayings in the
material analyzed: When push comes to shove, It all began in chaos,
Failure is an option, Once upon a dragon and There is no place like home.
There are also 5 instances of word play: Big fish (it may be a very
important person), Virtually immortal (actually or in relation to virtual
reality), Cowboys on the edge (at the end of the world or in danger of
‘extinction’), Cross currents (‘going across currents’ or ‘angry’ currents)
and Cosmic questions (unbelievable or cosmic). In addition, there is 1
rhetorical question: Can coal ever be clean?, 1 intensifier in: Crazy far
and 1 imperative structure: Just press print. The table below exemplifies
the use of stylistic devices in the material analyzed.
novel metaphors 55
alliteration 19
conventional metaphors 11
compounds 8
phrasal verbs 3
sayings or formulas 5
word play 5
rhetorical questions 1
intensifiers 1
imperative structures 1Table 4. Stylistic devices used in National Geographic headlines in the
body of the text (January 2013 – December 2014).
In comparison, the next table illustrates the use of stylistic devices in the
headlines from the table of contents.