Possumblog

Are pixels in that short a supply?

How not to write a headline--Governor offers $ 5-grand rewards for four Birmingham homicides.

I read that as "...five dollar grand rewards..."

Look, if you're going to try to be the hard-boiled J. Jonah Jameson-type, just use "Gov Ponies Up 5 Grand Rewards in 4 Slayings." If you want to look like you actually have a lick of sense, use something like "Governor offers five thousand dollar rewards in four homicides." But please don't use 'dollar sign-numeral-slang.'

['Ponies' also being a reference to the last guberantorial campaign, when Riley's opponent had a clever songster come up with a parody song to ridicule the governor riding a horse in his campaign spots. "Riley, Ridin' on a Pony" (sung to the tune of "Dooley") was quite a hit for a while.]