Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Strikethroughs in Articles

Editing within an article adds to comedic effect

Canada's newest "media darling" Brigette DePape

I was reading a clever editorial by Kelly McParland in the National Post about Canada's newest - and perhaps most famous (for now) - activist Brigette DePape and noticed something rather odd that immediately jumped out at me: a strikethrough in the copy.

McParland's choice to edit a word by adding the strikethrough was very clever and added to the comedic effect of the editorial. Although it's slightly out of context, the following is the paragraph which includes the strikethrough:

What next for Ms. DePape? Bungee-jumping from the CN Tower in support of more bike lanes? Careening from floe to floe as she personally rescues baby seals? Single-handedly storming the shores of Gaza carrying bullets  foodstuffs for the freedom fighters of Hamas? Anything is possible when you’re young, opinionated and inventive.


I've noticed more and more articles using this device. I suppose editing your copy in such a manner - whereby the reader can see what you intended to write - can be humorous depending on the subject matter.

Its use in McParland's article certainly aided in injecting a level of humour to the overall article.

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