Do Dah Do Dah

I wrote an email to the editor of a magazine I occasionally read, asking about his statement that, as a young writer, he'd been told that one way to tell if a headline had the right number of syllables was if you could see someone singing it to the tune of the Camptown Races.

His example: "Headless Body Found in Topless Bar"

Hit it.

"Headless Body Found in Topless Bar"
"Do Dah Do Dah"
"Makes me run screaming for the nearest car"
"Getting myself far away"

Oh, yeah, it scans.

This guy, incidentally, was also the source of the tagline I'm currently using for my work emails. He said "I'm a boomer. That means that everything I do and everything I say is by definition cool."

Well, of course!