Like most people who get the Tube to work, I have become accustomed to picking up a copy of the free Metro newspaper in the morning, to assist in the universal routine of avoiding eye contact with fellow passengers on London’s public transport.
The Metro is a strange mix of serious reporting and silly fluff stories, although a few years ago, it veered more towards fluff. For example, for a few months in 2008, you could be guaranteed that there would be at least one article a week detailing Something That Looks Like Something Else.
It was almost as if an editorial assistant had been given free rein to indulge a peculiar personal obsession.
These articles never failed to make me chuckle, and of course being the complete nerd that I am, I started cutting out and collecting them. Below are a few examples:
Wow. It’s an entire new journalism genre: stuff that looks like other stuff. Well discovered!
Perhaps we will soon have a new sub, sub-genre: newspaper articles that look like other newspaper articles?