Am I the only one annoyed by double proper nouns?

The stupid "Joe Blow says blah blah blah..." and "The boy is rushed to the hospital..." (He isn't still in the process of being rushed to the hospital, dickwad AP) aside...

Am I the only one sick of reading double proper nouns in news/sports stories and headlines because people don't seem to have a clue that it should be TIME, DATE, PLACE, in that order?

Oakland defeats Detroit Tuesday

Who the fuck is Detroit Tuesday?

I agree that the word "on" should be used only to break proper nouns, but by following the time, date, place rule, it avoids the conflict altogether.

"The game has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Bumblefuck Stadium."

Nice, neat, concise.

/rant

 

Detroit Tuesday bugs the hell out of me. But adding "on" as a solution is also fine with me.

 

I always think of English soccer club Sheffield Wednesday when I see something like this.

 

Are you going to see Jeff Saturday Saturday or Sunday?
We always got a chuckle when Rick Monday did something Monday.

 

Jeff Saturday and Rick Monday concur.

 

Tuesday Weld and Joe Friday cast a dissenting vote.

 

The problem with the bolded headline above is not the clunkiness of the "double pronoun proper noun", but that it makes it sound like it hasn't happened yet ... like it will happen NEXT Wednesday.

I remember a paper I worked at had a headline something like "Mayor John Smith dies Saturday."

I was thinking "What? Is he scheduled to be executed or something?"

A day that has already passed has no place in a headline.

 

That's my problem with the AP style. It makes it sound like the poor guy is still in the process of dying, or hasn't yet but plans to.

 

Kind of like telling someone about an article you saw in USA Today ... today. Always catch myself on that one, and always have the awkward pause to go with it.

 

If Rick's sister married Jeff brother, she'd be Nancy Monday-Saturday.

 

Ruby's brother?

 

I HATE the "Detroit Tuesday" thing and throw an "on" in there when I see it.

We had the headline Joe DiMaggio Dies Today when it happened. I argued against for half an hour. "What, are we going to load up and go kick his ass? Why don't we add an exclamation point?"