When the shirt-sleeved man in the green eyeshade scribbles LONG FLAYS NEW DEAL, or MILLIONS STARVE IN UKRAINE, or FIEND GUTS TOT, he is simply doing a job according to the dictates of space and the special characteristics of his newspaper. In all likelihood he neither knows nor cares that he is "writing in a new tense, unknown before headlines were invented." Last week one Dr. Manuel Rosenblum, language teacher at Buffalo Collegiate Centre, gravely announced that newspapers have created the "sigmatic present" tense. Sigmatic means the addition of the letter "s" to...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
