Many readers assume reporters also write the headlines that appear atop their stories.
It happens, but it's rare. So every so often, writers get a little surprise at how their work is titled.
That said -- I had absolutely no input whatsoever into the stories about Neil Diamond coming to the BOk Center this fall, in support of his forthcoming album.
Which is why I'm having trouble getting my head around the headline over the Associated Press story that ran below Brian Barber's announcement of Diamond's Tulsa show.
" 'Sultry Man' talks about his new album, tour."
SULTRY? Of all the words one might use to describe Mr. Diamond and his music -- some of which I like, some of which I can do without -- "sultry" is not one that comes immediately to mind. Even if you include his live album titled "Hot August Night" (which is close to the actual meaning of the word sultry, i.e., "hot and moist").
It's been a long while since even Paris Hilton would refer to Mr. Diamond as "hot," and as for the gentleman's relative humidity ...... I don't want to know, thank you VERY much.
Maybe someone wanted to use a Neil Diamond song title in the headline, discovered that "Solitary Man" was too long to fit the space allotted, and whittled away a few letters until arriving at "sultry."
Or maybe, as Mr. Diamond's work hasn't been on the radio in a while, the song was misremembered as being "Sultry Man."
And such a person would very likely be a "solitary man," as some people might be reluctant to spend a lot of time around a person who was in a perrpetual state of moist warmth.
Or maybe I'm just over-reacting to a simple slip of the fingers along the keyboard. Happens to me all the team.
I mean, all the time.
