The copy editors lost this battle

Glenn Coleman, the editor of Financial Week, a Crain’s publication, got into a headline battle recently with his copy editors.

Here is how Coleman tells the story: “Thought I’d send this 2/11 front page because of our headline ‘Bristol-Myers squibbed by auction-rate bonds.’

“It got a strong love/hate reaction from the wordsmithies, internally and externally. My copy desk still wants to strangle me with the unabridged Webster’s Third New International (its ‘squibbed’ entry includes the somewhat-ironic definition 1b: ‘to utter in an offhand manner’!!)

“Of course, the fact that it’s one of our most viewed and emailed stories of the young year only pisses ’em off more.”

See below. I showed it to one Old School copy editor friend of mine, and he said he wanted to gag.