Stupid hed tricks

Seriously. Are you people not embarrassed to be fakin' that down-home stuff in the 1A skybox? Especially when the story itself comes with a hed that (a) is properly qualified* and (b) uses the grownup spelling for the gerund "fishing"?

Why does the Observer persist in the repellent nonsense of g-droppin'? Is it supposed to make the peasants in the eastern part of the state think you aren't a big-city paper, flush with strangers from New Jersey? What is with you guys?

* Since the qualification includes the auxiliary "can," it also avoids that pesky agreement question. There are lots of reasons not to write stupid headlines!