Dec 27 2009
RP) Too Much Tongue in the Cheek of this Science News
(Recycled material: I’m in holiday/travel mode. This material first posted on Dec. 29, 2008)
I think we can all agree that this headline is a joke, if not a double joke:
Head And Neck Injury Risks In Heavy Metal: Head Bangers Stuck Between Rock And A Hard Bass
I don’t get it: stuck between a rock and a fish? Was it a largemouth or a smallmouth bass?
Sometimes going obtuse is the best response to a bad pun. And thus the double joke. The title wording contains a joke of sorts, and the joke is so bad it is a joke.
But is the entire article itself a joke? And if so, in what sense of the word? You decide.
Here’s a paragraph describing the science:
The average head banging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute. The authors suggest that at this tempo head banging may cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is more than 75º. They report that at higher tempos and greater ranges of motion there is an additional risk of neck injury.
This research “news release” appeared on the ScienceDaily website, along with countless other sites.
Check out the final paragraph:
Luckily, there are a number of possible ways to protect against these injuries, write the authors. These include calling for bands such as AC/DC to play songs such as “Moon River” instead of “Highway to Hell”, public awareness campaigns headed by musicians such as Cliff Richard and the labeling of music packaging with anti-head banging warnings.
In what sense(s) of the word was this article a joke?
