Sky News online published an article on 4 November 2020 with the headline: US election 2020: Trouble flares in Washington DC as protestors square off with police. What does ‘square off’ mean and what does a geometric shape have to do with a political election?
Idioms by The Free Dictionary defines ‘square off’ as ‘to get ready for an argument or a fight.’ The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘square off’ as ‘to prepare to fight, compete, or argue with someone.’
The use of a geometric shape refers to ‘taking a stance’ or ‘facing a competitor’ which may have originally come from a boxing term, where competitors squared off in a boxing ring. A boxing ring was initially a circle of spectators watching two people fight, but is now, for professional contests, a raised and roped-off square.
Therefore, the headline of the article announces that protestors are getting ready to argue or fight with the police.
What does the article say, and does it match its headline?
The sentence underneath the banner, which is expected to explain the headline, states: ‘Hundreds of demonstrators gather near the White House, with one group saying it had prepared for clashes with authorities.’ Does it explain the headline? Yes, it does. It clarifies and specifies that the protestors are not ALL protestors, but only, or at least, ‘one group’ of protestors.
The first sentence of the article, in bold letters, states, ‘Protesters have squared off with police in Washington DC as cities across the US prepared for potential unrest in the wake of the presidential election result.’ So, from the general (headline) to the specific (banner sentence), the opening sentence of the article makes another general statement. The word ‘protestors’ again implies that all or many protestors are involved, and the use of the word ‘cities’ does not list them, implying that there may be several cities or a lot of cities. The word ‘squared off’ ties the headline with the article.
The second sentence gets specific – it names the exact street in Washington DC where ‘trouble’ is flaring, and states that there are ‘hundreds of protestors.’ Therefore, it seems that ‘one group’ has ‘hundreds’ of protestors.
The article follows with the type of clothing and equipment that the protestors are wearing and carrying. It states that ‘fireworks could be heard’ and so can ‘chants’ of protestor profanities. It also writes of protestor actions taken – physical actions, such as kicking police bicycles, that seem to suggest that protestors are ‘preparing to get ready for an argument or a fight.’
In fact, towards the end of the article, the news correspondent uses the word ‘prepared.’ For example, quoting a representative of the protest group about their actions, the article writes, ‘”It is something we've prepared for," she said.’ And the article follows up with an opposing point of view, from the police, not in Washington DC, but in New York: ‘Meanwhile, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has prepared for a possible increase in protests in the days and weeks after the presidential election, NBC News reported.’
Scorecard for theSky News online headline is 100%. The article connects the headline with the narrative, and re-states the word ‘square off’ in the first sentence. The narrative of the article explains, clarifies, and provides examples of actions, sights, and sounds that imply that the protestors are ‘squaring off’ with police. Note that the correspondent does not use the phrase ‘against the police.’ Due to the nature of the situation, the article was updated less than an hour later, with a different heading and amendments to the narrative. However, at the time of viewing, the initial headline effectively stated the article’s intent.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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