# Favorite titles or What makes a good title? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357 "2011-05-26T21:29:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![With\_Rye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@With\_Rye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/With_Rye)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/1 "2011-05-26T21:29:22Z")
A recent favorite: Cowboys and Aliens It’s cheap and disposable, but dang if it doesn’t get everyone’s attention. I also like the titles in the fantasy trilogy by Elizabeth Bear: _All the Windwracked Stars By the Mountain Bound The Sea thy Mistress_ Really lyrical and epic. I think titles with the annoying “or” in them are self-important and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/2 "2011-05-26T21:40:05Z")
Some favorites that I really don’t know the underlying appeal for: A Streetcar Named Desire As I Lay Dying Blood on the Moon Cool Hand Luke I, The Jury Riders on the Storm ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/3 "2011-05-26T23:20:42Z")
I tend to prefer longer titles: \*\*They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? \*\* Memorable and mysterious (until you see the film). **You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish** "‘Repent Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman. (Harlan Ellison) James Tiptree, Jr. was great with titles: “Love is the Plan; The Plan is Death” “The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Terrible Things to Rats” “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill Side.” “I’ll Be Waiting for You When the Swimming Pool is Empty” So was Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain.” “The Game of Rat and Dragon” “Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons” “The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal” “Golden the Ship Was - Oh! Oh! Oh!” And, finally R. A. Lafferty: “Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas” “Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne.” “Incased in Ancient Rind” “Euremia’s Dam” (especially clever when you understand what it means). “Among the Hairy Earthmen” “Camels and Dromedaries, Clem.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/4 "2011-05-29T02:10:27Z")
Criss Angel is a Douchebag is one of my favorite titles. It’s an episode of Supernatural and it is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/5 "2011-05-29T03:25:36Z")
My favorite was for a paper I did (yes, I’m favorite-ing myself) for college. My paper was about how important Thomas Paine was to the American Revolution and the title was “No Paine, No Gain.” ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/6 "2011-05-29T22:42:47Z")
Hardly gets better than “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Ellison. It’s lyrical, intriguing, memorable and … literal. A title that’s also the shocking last line of the story ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/7 "2011-05-30T04:11:14Z")
I’m not such a big fan of Robert Rankin (despite Terry Pratchett’s approbation), but boy does he have a knack for wacky titles. Some examples: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse Raiders of the Lost Car Park Sex, Drugs, and Sausage Rolls The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag Armageddon: The Musical The Suburban Book of the Dead Nostadamus Ate my Hamster The Da-da-de-da-da Code ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/8 "2011-05-30T04:13:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill Side.” Isn’t that from a famous poem or something? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/9 "2011-05-30T05:01:38Z")
Chesterton: _The Man Who Was Thursday_ More Cordwainer Smith: “Think Blue, Count Two” “The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All” “Himself in Anachron” “The Dead Lady of Clown Town” “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/10 "2011-05-30T08:33:48Z")
“I’ll take famous titties for $400!” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/11 "2011-05-30T08:52:13Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Isn’t that from a famous poem or something? I don’t know about that, but plenty of excellent titles were originally lines from other works: “The Winter of our Discontent” “No Country for Old Men” “To Sail Beyond the Sunset” ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/12 "2011-05-30T19:29:28Z")
When I first saw the title _“The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant”_ I thought I must rent this DVD. I don’t know why. But it opened up a whole new world to me - Rainer Werner Fassbinder. I prefer to rent disk for this sort but I see adverts which indicate one may be able to view Fassbinder on Hulu premium. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/13 "2011-05-30T19:46:12Z")
I like [Christopher Moore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Moore_%28author%29)’s titles, especially his vampire trilogy:[ul][_]Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story[_]_You Suck: A Love Story_[\*]_Bite Me: A Love Story_[/ul]Moore writes humorous “genre” fiction, so these all fit well (and “You suck!” is actually the first line of that novel, if I remember correctly). And who could forget _[Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb:_The_Gospel_According_to_Biff,_Christ%27s_Childhood_Pal)_? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/14 "2011-05-30T20:50:32Z")
Oh yeah. :smack: How could I forget Christopher “Island of the Sequined Love Nun” Moore? PS. “Fluke: or I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-titles-or-what-makes-a-good-title/583357/15 "2011-05-30T21:23:26Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Isn’t that from a famous poem or something? [Yes](http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/labelledamesansmerci.html), by Keats.