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The Meaning of Headlines: 'breaking up' - relationships




The International New York Times, in its Fashion & Style section, included an article, ‘Why I’m Breaking Up With the Apple Watch’ on June 13, 2015. Its June 11 version of the same article was headlined, ‘Let’s Call This Thing Off.’

The Apple Watch (38-millimeter case) is an innovative smartwatch. The author of the article bought one, wore it, and decided that she was over it. ‘The relationship was, despite all expectations, not what I needed.’ She explains why she will no longer be wearing it – ‘it still looks like a gadget’ – ‘the screen is small’ – seeing somebody staring at her wrist … is rudeness or geekiness – and people were constantly asking to try it, or asking questions about it. And the main reason for ‘breaking up’ is: ‘The watch isn’t actually a fashion accessory for the tech-happy. It’s a tech accessory pretending to be a fashion acessory. I just couldn’t fall for it.’ But, as a colleague tells her, ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’

The definition of ‘breaking up’ is ‘to cause a relationship, interaction, or gathering to end, or come to an end’ according to EncartaDictionaries. Relationships are complex: they can break down. When they ‘break down’ the two individuals, instigated by one or both, can ‘break up’ or ‘break off’ or ‘break apart.’ They can do many other things too, such as ‘uncouple’ but the main verb in this instance is ‘to break.’

Note that the watch is not breaking – it is not breaking up, or breaking down, or breaking apart. At least not yet. In this article, the watch is inanimate and static. The person writing the article is the doer, the initiator, the breaker upperer (but don’t ever use this phrase!).

The interaction has, or may in the near future, come to an end. The initiator is still in the transitional phase – in the act of breaking up. She has not yet ‘broken up’ or broken down.’ She is not using the past tense. Readers do not know whether she actually will ‘break up’ with the watch.


Scorecard for The International New York Times headline is 60% - the author is not sure about the relationship – she wants to break up, but she has not yet broken up – she is still in the act of breaking up. No matter what she does, even if she does break up, she is not going to break down over the parting. The whole article is too indecisive – and yes, readers, ‘it’s her, not you.’
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