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17:47 Dec 7, 2009 

... I am afraid I now suffer from a lamentable condition known to the specialists as terminal punitis. I will always admire a headline that incorporates a subtle and apposite piece of wordplay; equally, I will always cringe at one which places the pun before everything else. Neutral headlines are, well. just that. Not much to cause offence and not much to admire.

17:43 Dec 7, 2009 

My list is much shorter... So, as an editor, would you prefer a catchy but obscure headline over a relatively plain but up-to-the-point one?

17:36 Dec 7, 2009 

...I've worked, variously, as a journalist, editor, sub-editor on the following publications, some more "yellow" than others, and you'd be surprised...: FourFourTwo, World Soccer, Skysports Magazine, Champions Magazine, BBC Match of the Day Magazine, Sport Magazine, African Soccer, When Saturday Comes, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, The Herald, The Scotsman, The Daily Record, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday, The Sunday Mirror, News of the World, The Official Arsenal Magazine, The Official Manchester United Magazine, BBC.co.uk, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Journal, Russian Customs News, The Linguist.

17:31 Dec 7, 2009 

...The tradition does indeed exist, but i wouldn't say it's going so strong in this particular kind of publications. Personally, I consider it a sign of yellow journalism, along the lines of the old joke about a "Nut screws washers and bolts" article with a story of a mental patient raping laundry girls and running away.

17:16 Dec 7, 2009 

I realise that they are real cuff-links, but the point is that in English, catchy headline writing is often all about wordplay and idiom.

16:49 Dec 7, 2009 

In English, more than any other language I've come into contact with as a journalist/editor or translator, wordplay and punning is embedded in headline culture. Nice to honour this tradition if possible.

16:45 Dec 7, 2009 

You can go down the verbatim route - if it is for info only; but if it's being published then I think you should generally have full licence to provide a cultural equivalent that works - ie something which is, as you say, snappy, and captures the essence of the article content.