The long and short of it

It's not often you get a heist at a barber shop in the daily news mix. But when you do, if you're a headline writer, you must take full advantage.

The headline on the Star-Telegram Web site is: "Robber hits Arlington barber shop." But that's not what we wanted to write. Here are some suggestions that came up in our headline discussion before we published the above, and none of the following, out of respect for the barbers:

"Robber takes a little off the top"

"Arlington robber demands his cut"

"Clip joint clipped"

"Thief cuts into barber shop's daily take"

"'Gimme the money -- don't split hairs!'"

"Gumshoes comb over flattops"

"Money hair today, gone tomorrow" (ouch)

"It was a hair-raising ordeal" (double ouch)

"Barber in close shave" (...)

OK. Now that that's out of our system. Back to work ... and we're not even gonna talk about the lady on the toilet seat for two years.

-- T-Bone (transcribing with Lance Murray and Lefty Leferink)