Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Flied mushrooms. Come again? Catching sight of these words while reading Metro over the shoulder of a fellow commuter, a faint bell rang in Paper Monitor's head.
A dated joke poking fun at the muddling of an "l" and an "r". Familiar. But unlike the Daily Mail's cartoon of 2006, there isn't even an Asian connection.
Mail cartoonist Mac's excuse was that the Japanese were eyeing a stake in BA. But the Metro sub who came up with "How flied mushrooms forced a plane down" was writing a headline about a Ryanair flight between Budapest and Dublin on which a passenger suffered an allergic reaction to mushroom juice seeping from an overhead locker.
Just as Mac's cartoon never made it onto the Daily Mail website, Metro's online headline is "A bag of mushrooms grounds Ryanair flight".
Meanwhile, a question for any budding Journalism 101 students out there. You will know that "Dog bites man" is not news but "Man bites dog" is news. (Incidentally, Paper Monitor dreams about a parlour game called Unsupported Headlines in which one makes up a great headline and then devises a story to fit. A favourite example is about how a man's holiday is ruined by persistent insects, the headline being "Bites dog man".) But given all that, what does that make "dog bites dog to save man"? Or, more accurately, .
Strangely, it is not a tale that appears to have made the UK papers - not even the Mail, renowned for its coverage of tales of the unexpected from the animal world.
Talking of which, there are mice in Monitor Towers, and no, not of the kind invented by . Suitable columnist-based names for our new friends, please, via the Comments button below.
Comment number 1.
At 28th Aug 2008, symingth wrote:MM and PM - Magazine Mouse and Paper Mouse? I can see it happening - we'll have "quiz of the squeak's news" before long...
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Comment number 2.
At 28th Aug 2008, DylanRex wrote:Surely just MM - Monitor Mouse, following the great MM Mouse Moniker's of Mickey Mouse and Mini Mouse. Mmm.
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Comment number 3.
At 28th Aug 2008, angelofboox wrote:Bob.
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Comment number 4.
At 28th Aug 2008, Candace9839 wrote:Peek - distinguised by subscripts
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Comment number 5.
At 28th Aug 2008, Candace9839 wrote:Random, Phantom and Stat
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Comment number 6.
At 28th Aug 2008, Lester Mak wrote:Assuming you're going to get rid of them, you could call them LBQ and Punorama?
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Comment number 7.
At 29th Aug 2008, PNkt wrote:I honour of that great piece of journalistic research - The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - I move that the resident mice be named Frankie Mouse and Benjy Mouse.
As every good Hitchhiker knows, the mice are the most intelligent beings on the planet.
I'll get my towel.
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