Graphics Associated With This Post Only By The Word "Hallelujah"
The Exclamatory Hallelujah Heading Plague
On 18 December 2008, The London Telegraph ran a story titled Hallelujah – 20 facts about Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah
This evoked in me several responses:
I was, for example, happy to find that my own post, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah – The Fun Facts. Baby, I’ve Been Here Before, published on the 17th, is clearly more thorough, better referenced, funnier, and, by golly, niftier in every respect.
I was – once again – surprised to find a list of alleged facts displayed in a periodical without citations or explanations. Although I was, for instance, aware of Item #18, “The song is broadcast at 2am every Saturday night by the Israeli defense force’s radio channel,” I didn’t list it in my post because, in part, I couldn’t find an authoritative reference.1 More importantly, I thought an explanation was required for the ritual to be newsworthy. Does the head of Tzahal have a thing for the song? Is the Director of Galatz angling for a job after he leaves the state-supported radio station? Is payola involved? Why 2 AM? (Also, when exactly is “2am every Saturday night?” Is that 2 AM Saturday, which we Midwesterners would call “Saturday morning?”)
My major reaction, however, was exasperation. This was the 33,759th article about Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to appear in the past three weeks. That, of course, is fine and dandy. Too many articles about a Leonard Cohen song? That’s crazy talk.
No, the cause of my frustration was that “Hallelujah – 20 facts about Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah” was the 33,754th article about Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to appear in the past three weeks using what I call the exclamatory Hallelujah heading.
In the case of “Hallelujah – 20 facts about Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah,” the first “Hallelujah” is the exclamatory Hallelujah. The “Hallelujah” following “Leonard Cohen’s,” on the other hand, is an identifier-Hallelujah, referring directly to the name of the song.
A fundamental distinction exists between the the identifier Hallelujah and the exclamatory Hallelujah: Referring to “Hallelujah” (the name of the song) could be pertinent and perhaps essential in the title of an article about that song.
The exclamatory Hallelujah, however, is not essential. It is, at best, ornamental and, more typically, it is only a cheap means to a cheap headline. Recent examples of the exclamatory Hallelujah heading template include
- Hallelujah! Alexandra triumphs on X Factor
- Hallelujah! The competition’s wide open,
- The X Factor and Leonard Cohen? Hallelujah!
Sharp-eyed viewers will have already noted that these three cases are also exemplars of a subclass of the exclamatory Hallelujah heading category. An exclamation mark immediately punctuating a titular Hallelujah is not only a pathognomonic indicator of an exclamatory Hallelujah heading but also qualifies the construction as an excessive exclamatory Hallelujah heading (E2H2). Ongoing readers may be aware of my antipathy toward the profligate proliferation of exclamation marks as outlined in my seminal essay, Exclamation Marks – Pervasive Perversity Or Provocative Punctuation Peccadillo?. As one might extrapolate, I am not a fan of the excessive exclamatory Hallelujah heading.2
The Evil That Lurks Within The Exclamatory Hallelujah heading
Reporters and bloggers who protest that a headline with an exclamatory Hallelujah is altogether appropriate to the content of a given article miss this key point:
Readers deserve better than clichés, whether or not
the clichés are are on point, factually correct, suitable, …
I once read a piece proffering the mock proposal that sportswriters be limited each year to no more than two headlines that employ team-name specific clichés of the “Indians Scalp Yankees” or “Bears Claw Packers” ilk.3 The premise is the same: Readers deserve better.
I am acutely aware of the need to cobble together a pithy headline because of an impending deadline or because the lack of a title is the only thing preventing those 1,233 semi-cogently arranged words squirreled away in a WordPress database residing in a tiny speck on a hard drive at the web host’s headquarters from being transformed into a full fledged publication.
And, I am certainly aware of the temptation Leonard Cohen titles present for the erstwhile headline writer.
But, come on now – isn’t slipping that exclamatory Hallelujah into the heading just a little too easy, just a little beneath your dignity as a writer?
Well, even if it’s not, it should be. So, suck it up. Write a better heading. Find another verse of the song to twist to your needs. Look in a thesaurus. Ask for help. In this case, don’t be too proud to beg. Pull a random word from the dictionary. If you work in a newsroom, place a profanity where the headline should be so your editor will be forced to come up with a heading.
Fight for journalistic integrity. Do not succumb to the exclamatory Hallelujah heading.
Addendum: If you have a taste for a bit more criticism of the (favorable) press coverage of Leonard Cohen, check GoodCleanWholesomeFun for my quick take on a Leonard Cohen profile just published in The Scotsman.
_____________________- I assume the song is listed on the station’s schedule, which is available on the station’s web site – in Hebrew. [↩]
- One notes in passing that Leonard Cohen’s lyrics for “Hallelujah” contains no exclamation marks. [↩]
- I cannot find a citation for this dandy sports article. I would be appreciative should a viewer forward the reference my way. [↩]
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