Catch of the week: 'Judge helps dapper suspect spiff up for federal murder'

I came across an article on Yahoo! News that had quite an interesting headline: "Judge helps dapper suspect spiff up for federal murder". When I was first skimming headlines on the website and came across this one, I had to re-read it since I didn't understand it the first time, and after finally comprehending what the headline said, I clicked on the link to read the story in order to understand why someone hadn't given the article a title that was easier to read.

The headline's strange wording drew my attention, and I guess it could be looked at in a positive way since it stands out to readers, such as myself, and intrigues them to read the article. However, most readers skim through headlines, like I did, so it is best if the headline is clear and understandable. With this said, I have come up with a few alternative headlines that could have been used for this article:

1. "Judge lends tie to accused mob boss for murder trial".

2. "Jailers refuse to give accused mob boss a tie to wear, judge lends him one".

3. "Judge lends litigant a tie to wear for court after jailers deny him one".

Works Cited

"Judge helps dapper suspect spiff up for federal murder." Yahoo! News. Yahoo! Inc, 1 March 2011. Web. 2 March 2011.