4 ms·
I wonder what goes through the minds of the guardian's editors when they write titles like this. "Woman treated by doctors" isn't a story. One hopes that _every
by ebg13 7y ago
I wonder what goes through the minds of the guardian's editors when they write titles like this. "Woman treated by doctors" isn't a story. One hopes that _everyone_ whose blood turns blue would be treated by doctors.
- fuzzy2 7y ago[A] Woman [having been] treated by doctors most certainly is the story here.
- ebg13 7y agoNo it is not. A woman's blood turning blue is the story. Being treated by doctors when your blood turns blue is expected and normal. Blood turning blue is not expected or normal.
- Waterluvian 7y agoI think you're misinterpreting the very classic style in which headlines are written. Subject, Action, important qualifiers.
- ebg13 7y ago"Woman's blood turns blue after benzocaine ingestion" is the story. Being treated by doctors is not.
- lordgrenville 7y agoThanks for summarising, what a poor headline. It's like saying "Man Retrieved From Sea After Dying" [article: man was attacked by a shark].
- foxyv 7y agoBut then I wouldn't need to read the article to answer the question that pops up into my head.
- coldtea 7y agoIt's not about who gets to be treated, it's a reporting of an actual event, so it spells out who was treated ("a woman"). And if she was famous and her name to have any relevance to the readers, then instead of "a woman" it would be her name in the title ("X treated for ...", and ditto for a man).
- ebg13 7y agoThe story is that her blood turned blue, not that she was treated by a doctor. _Of_course_ she was treated by a doctor! Her blood turned blue!
- coldtea 7y agoThat's not how the world or journalism works. All of what the title says is the story, and there's no "of course" there. She could have died before see could be seen by a doctor, for example ("Accident victim bleeds blue blood"). She could found out on her own and started a cult ("Woman starts a cult after her blood turned blue") She could have hidden it, fearing some superstition ("Woman lived with blue-blood disease for decades") And any other combination of events...
- fortran77 7y agoTo me this was a story! It was an unusual reaction, caused by a drug that is available over the counter and we may have used, and can be treated with a simple antidote. It had a beginning, a middle, and a happy ending. And it contained useful information about not using too much of this stuff, or use it for too long.
- ebg13 7y agoI'm getting tired of coming up with original responses, so I'm just going to link to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049392 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049392 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049422 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21049406