Stylistic Devices and Creativity in Popular Science Headlines 307Call of the Bloom (used with reference to some tropical flowers that reflect
sound, so nectar-seeking bats can find them more easily), Tumbling
Intruder, Virtually Immortal, Wild Obsession, Impossible Rock, The
Unlikely Walrus, Visual Village, The Generous Gulf (this is also the example
personification), The Nuclear Tourist (used with reference to an unforeseen
legacy of the Chernobyl meltdown), Hidden World of Great War,
Crusading Pilot, Fertilizer Curse, Paradise Revisited, Medieval Mountain
Hideaway, When the Snows Fail (this is also the case of personification),
The New Face of Hunger, Price of Precious, Train for the Forgotten and
Sorrow on the Mountain. Some novel metaphorical expressions are not
only intriguing or unusual in some way, but they also involve the element
of a paradox, consider for example: A Healing Bite (since the bite is
usually lethal or not healing), Crowded Everest (one would not expect this
mountain to be crowded), Love and Loss on the Seine or Relations go
Gourmet (the word gourmet is not usually used with reference to
relations). In some cases also adjectives in the function of intensifiers are
used in headlines, for instance: Crazy Far or Ultimate Trek.
In addition, the use of formulas, proverbs or sayings or parts of them is
common in headlines, consider, for example, the following headlines: No
Place Like Home (this is part of the saying There is no place like home),
Once Upon a Dragon (this is part of the formula Once upon a time),
English by the Book (where the formula by the book means ‘adhering to
the rules’) or Failure is an Option (which is part of the saying Failure is
not an option). Journalists also employ word plays in headlines; here word
play is understood as a form of experimenting with language and its
changes or taking advantage of the ambiguities of certain words or
expressions. Consider, for example, the following headlines: Turkey’s
Birdman (where the adjective Turkey might refer to the nationality or to a
particular species of a bird), A World Apart (where the word apart may be
used as an adjective ‘different’ or as a preposition ‘divided’), Cowboys on
the Edge (where on the edge might be understood literally ‘on the edge of
something’ or as part of the idiom, meaning ‘in danger of extinction’) or
Cross Currents (where the word cross might be used as an adjective
‘angry’ or as a preposition).
One can also find rhetorical or stimulation questions that are to arouse
the reader’s interest and that are answered later in the article, supporting or
disproving the main hypothesis, consider for instance: Can Coal be
Clean? or Will the Walls Fall? Other structures, such as imperative
constructions may also be used, for example: Just Press Print. A very
common device employed by journalists is alliteration which is also often
used in literature in order to place emphasis on a particular point or to