Fantasy

I have a fantasy of carrying a really, really big red pen in my car. When necessary, I would pull over and whip it out whenever I saw an egrious afront to proper editorial style.

Case in point: The Fred Meyer's on 148th Avenue Northeast is undergoing a major remodel. In front of the building sits a sign that reads "Fred Meyer's is Open" (during its remodel). This is a headline for heaven's sake. And the sign's writer used headline case. In headline case verbs are capitalized. Is is a verb. It's not a muscular verb, but it is a verb. Verbs are capitalized in headlines, as are nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and prepositions of four or more letters (in AP style, that is).

So I fantisize about parking behind the sign and drawing three little red lines directly below the i.