Dow plummets, tumbles, washes out; what’s a headline writer to do?

The Dow had a downer today, losing 2.3%. Not one of its best, for sure.

But headline writers had a field day as they dug deep into their kit-bags of metaphors. Following Sneaky Business' observations on Google earlier in the week, we feel obligated to share some of the more dramatic headlines that have graced the web during the last few hours. Sit back and enjoy:

Headline	Source	Sneaky Business Score (1-5)
"Stocks tumble on credit worries"	WSJ	2 – Safe, marginally dramatic
"Washout for the Dow"	CNN	3 – Nice metaphor; images of soggy days at Wimbledon
"Stocks plunge on credit concerns"	USA Today	2 – Come on, you can do better than that
"The time to invest is now"	Leeward Stochs	4 – Inspired attempt to stay on message
"Dow plunges more than 300 points"	CBS News	2 – Surprisingly safe
"Dow disappears from radar. Doomed."	National Inquirer	4 – splendid effort

Now the real dilemma, of course, is what to write if the Dow falls even further tomorrow. Headline writers may be forcing themselves into a corner by describing a 2% drop as a "plunge". Once there they face an ever increasing vicious circle of adjectives that may just mushroom out of control.

We shall see.