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A pun-filled story that was a bit too “well done”

I meant to post on this weeks ago when this story first aired on the local TV station, but I got busy and forgot. I was reminded of it again today and since I’m off work today (I’m working Saturday and avoiding the newsroom so if there are any lay offs today there I’m not witness) I thought I’d share my ROTFLMAO moment now. It’s still funny.

The reason I want to share this is its over-the-top, pun-filled groan-inducing writing. I have never seen so many puns in one story before, waaay too many not to be intentional. And the reporter says them (you can watch the video) without even cracking a grin and acknowledging the absurdity.

The story is about how bakeries are coping with the economic downturn. A hint at what’s to come: The title is Bakeries rise in the recession. Subhead: Pastry chefs whipping up dollars.

At the risk of copyright infringement, I’m not going to copy and paste but instead link to the entire story. (For any professors/readers who come across this post after the story has been killed out of the system, I did save a copy if you’re interested it.)

But I am going to bold and bullet each of the bakery-related puns/cliches I could spot.

  • … one type of business is rising to the top
  • whip up dollars
  • … just scraping by
  • … earning money during the recession is frosting on the cake
  • … Quality takes the cake
  • … Creativity is O’Rear’s special spice
  • … is mixing it up
  • … share their secret success ingredient
  • … with a sour economy, there’s a demand for something sweet
  • … each cook up a variety

With the title and subhead, that amounts to a dozen (not a bakers dozen, but close) in one 340 word story. Check out the story and see if I missed any. And comment to tell me what you think. Am I overly critical? I realize it’s not a story about murder or anything, but just seems a bit silly to see a professional organization producing stuff like this.

2 Responses to “A pun-filled story that was a bit too “well done””

  1. Breanna Gaddie Says:

    I see what you mean. This doesn’t excuse the reporter, but she does work for a tv station. For whatever reason, it seems like stories -seen- on a tv news channel may have a lit bit of entertainment value added in. Like I said, it doesn’t excuse the reporter or anybody in broadcast journalism, but this one was a little over the top.

  2. Producer Bill Says:

    It makes me wonder whether the reporter, Niccole Caan, wrote the story herself or not. The “tag” in the text was slightly different than what she closed off the story with. The text was far funnier: “The bakeries offer more than JUST DESSERTS… they also have other varieties of baked goods.” Niccole Caan, on the other hand, adlibbed “The bakeries offer more than baked goods… they also offer a variety of other desserts.”

    If I were Niccole’s producer for this show, I would have told her if she’s going to put that many puns in — and for a simple story as this, it could frankly make it more engaging to the viewer and listener — by all means give us some big smiles!

    Features, especially on TV — and even more especially on local television — can sometimes lend themselves to humor, lightheartedness, and yes, puns. Stories about bakeries, even more so — just read the headline I punned up for this story: “http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/warren-bakery-losing-money-over-RIDOT-sidewalk-project-“