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When did The New York Times start talking like Yoda, and when did we begin to notice it? On it, the Twitter account @NYTPrepositions is: "For Prepositional Phrases, a Starring Role in New York Times Headlines," @yayitsrob & @NickCastele explain of their suddenly viral joint project, which is, like @NYTOnIt, not affiliated with the paper. (We do love to celebrate, censure, parse out, analyze, and generally consider our New York Times headlines.)
Prepositional Lady began pre-Sandy, in mid-October. Since that point, we've gotten headlines like, in reverse chronology, "On Twitter, Sifting Through Falsehoods in Critical Times," "In This Corner, a Much-Needed Distraction," "In Red Hook, Short on Time, and Kale," and "For Evacuees, Panic, or Nonchalance" (among plenty of others, hurricane and non-hurricane headlines alike). So is this, like, a thing? In New York Times Headlines, Prepositions Are Wont to Appear? It's enough of a thing to generate a tribute Twitter account, at the very least. And a Twitter tribute to that. The #NYTBooks hashtag is being used to churn out hundreds of re-prepositioned New York Times-style book titles. Slate called it "the hashtag of the day." Well, then!