# How come we don't end thread titles with periods? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 27, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841 "2007-04-27T06:16:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/1 "2007-04-27T06:16:20Z")
Well, I just started a thread in GQ, and I was about to end the title with a period, then I thought, "Wait, do other posters do that? And I went back into the forum front page and saw that there weren’t any. A couple of question marks, a few exlamation points. In a board so grammar-minded it seems silly that we don’t. Or is it that a thread title is just that, a title, and not specifically speaking a sentence? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/2 "2007-04-27T06:21:27Z")
[Some posters do.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=418358) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/3 "2007-04-27T06:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000] …a thread title is just that, a title, and not specifically speaking a sentence? [/QUOTE] I think this is your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/4 "2007-04-27T14:52:37Z")
Because punctuation interferes with poetry? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/5 "2007-04-27T15:00:41Z")
I can’t answer for others, but I do think of my title as simply a title, and punctuate appropriately, including capitalization. Questions or exclamations in titles do receive their marks, but there are rarely periods. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/6 "2007-04-27T15:07:19Z")
Most thread titles aren’t sentences, and Mrs. Strand would hunt me down and thunk me with a hardbound copy of \*Warriner’s \* if I put a period at the end of a sentence fragment. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/7 "2007-04-27T16:04:45Z")
Note also that running the numbers shows that the additional strain on hardware caused by adding a period to each thread title would cost upwards of 3.2 _million_ dollars. (ETA: decimal error, sorry. That should read 3.2 _dollars_. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/8 "2007-04-27T16:10:21Z")
Commonly accepted contemporary usage is that one does not end a title with a period. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/9 "2007-04-28T02:25:55Z")
Only once a month … ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/10 "2007-04-28T05:02:10Z")
I was just looking over my bookshelf and noted the following titles: Holy Bible. The Confessions of Augie Marsh. The Sun Also Rises. Le Morte D’Arthur. The Source. Cannery Row. Nine Princes in Amber. Then I realized that I had imagined all the periods. (We prefer pregnant titles, here.) ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/11 "2007-04-28T13:56:17Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Commonly accepted contemporary usage is that one does not end a title with a period. Period. [/QUOTE] Yes, and I feel the need to capitalize all but the most common words. Articles, conjuctions, and pronouns, mostly. Am I operating on a correct assumption here? * * * True Blue Jack ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/12 "2007-04-28T14:13:52Z")
I’m also guilty of ending a title with a period, but I don’t always use all those caps. I figure that if you’re going to use question marks and exclamayion polnts, you aught to use periods. It’s only fair. Thread titles are not book titles. Peace, mangeorge (Not capitalized, as is my right.) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/13 "2007-04-28T14:40:44Z")
[QUOTE=True Blue Jack] Yes, and I feel the need to capitalize all but the most common words. Articles, conjuctions, and pronouns, mostly. Am I operating on a correct assumption here? [/QUOTE] Book titles, short story titles, movie titles, etc. you should capitalize all the important words. Thread titles? Well, I wouldn’t swear that there aren’t other conventions on other message boards, but it looks to me like more people than not only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. That said, enough people capitalize assorted important words that (especially in a short title) you are fine capitalizing assorted important words. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/14 "2007-04-28T17:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=Eureka] Book titles, short story titles, movie titles, etc. you should capitalize all the important words. Thread titles? Well, I wouldn’t swear that there aren’t other conventions on other message boards, but it looks to me like more people than not only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. That said, enough people capitalize assorted important words that (especially in a short title) you are fine capitalizing assorted important words. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000] Or is it that a thread title is just that, a title, and not specifically speaking a sentence? [/QUOTE] Have you read a newspaper lately? Thread titles are like newspaper article titles. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/15 "2007-04-28T20:49:40Z")
All the important words?? Now you’ve hurt the feelings of indefinite articles everywhere! From _The Chicago Manual of Style_, 13th ed. (yeah, I’m too cheap to stay current), p. 222: > [@](#): > > Capitalize the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. Lowercase articles(_the, a, an_), coordinate conjunctions (_and, or, for, nor_), and prepositions, regardless of length, unless they are the first or last words of the title or subtitle. Lowercase the _to_ in infinitives. This is followed with stuff on when and when not to capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound, but I’ll spare you. (Gotta admit this is the first time I ever heard that the last word in a title must be capitalized.) ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/16 "2007-04-29T06:25:09Z")
Okay, to make things clear in a yes or no way… since thread titles are “titles” and don’t require punctuation, is it good etiquette to capitalize? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/17 "2007-04-29T14:47:03Z")
It would not appear to be necessary to me . . . but if it makes you feel better, sure, knock yourself out. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/18 "2007-04-29T18:41:25Z")
[QUOTE=Eureka] Book titles, short story titles, movie titles, etc. you should capitalize all the important words. Thread titles? Well, I wouldn’t swear that there aren’t other conventions on other message boards, but it looks to me like more people than not only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. That said, enough people capitalize assorted important words that (especially in a short title) you are fine capitalizing assorted important words. [/QUOTE] Thank you, Eureka. * * * True Blue Jack ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-we-dont-end-thread-titles-with-periods/401841/19 "2007-04-29T23:28:17Z")
… Ok, that’s enough for everyone to share. Can I get some help passing them all out to the threads? 😃