Newspaper Language: 7 Up

Newspaper Headline – 7 Up

Liverpool thrashed Crystal Palace 7-0 at the weekend to move clear at the top of the Premier League and The Telegraph newspaper in the UK used the very simple headline ‘7 Up‘ to highlight this result. The phrase, 7 Up, may have originated from a card game but it is much better known as a soft drinks company and when a team scores this many goals in a game – a rare event – it is often used by headline writers. Of course, it is not the same as a seven-goal thriller which suggests that both sides had a chance of winning the gae; something which clearly did not happen in the 7-0 win for Liverpool. When there are high scoring matches in football often the headline writers will use catchy ‘number’ headlines such as ‘Fantastic Five’; ‘Six-Love’ and ‘Seventh Heaven‘ and the Telegraph has continued with this tradition – 7 Up.

With an image of Sadio Mane jumping in celebration after scoring his goal (Liverpool’s second) the newspaper has also added more information in the sub-heading: ‘Liverpool obliterate hapless Palace to seal Christmas No 1 spot’. The verb here is ‘to obliterate’ which means to completely destroy the opposition – the seven-goal thrashing obliterated Crystal Palace who were described as ‘hapless’ which means they were very unfortunate but also very unhappy. The end of the phrase refers to the fact that Liverpool will be top over Christmas – there is a reference to the music charts as Number 1 at Christmas is a very prestigious event for the singer or band that is number one in the charts at this time. Another way of saying this phrase would be something like, Liverpool thrash a poor Crystal Palace side to stay top of the table at Christmas.