# I Am Not Going To Give This Thread A Title **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100 "2011-01-26T21:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/1 "2011-01-26T21:32:10Z")
Is there a name, and a general form for the paradox demonstrated in the title of this thread? The best description-name I can come up with is the “You cannot truthfully assert to someone an exact statement that you will not make to them” paradox. The two places I see it come up most are comedy routines where an unintelligent character will say something like “Nope, I won’t tell you where Bill is, I promised him I’d never admit to you that he’d gone fishing.”, and in backhanded insults in real-life where someone will say something like “If I wasn’t such a courteous person I’d tell you that you’re a good-for-nothing waste of space.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/2 "2011-01-26T21:34:38Z")
I’m not going to post a reponse to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/3 "2011-01-26T21:38:18Z")
I’m not going to link to the [Liar paradox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox), since it may (or may not) be related. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/4 "2011-01-26T22:04:00Z")
You may be interested in Raymond Smullyan’s [This Book Needs No Title](http://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Needs-Title-Touchstone/dp/0671628313), which muses on paradoxes of this sort. (He also has a similar book, whose name I can’t recall at the moment). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/5 "2011-01-26T22:05:41Z")
[This is not a wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treachery_of_Images). ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/6 "2011-01-26T22:07:29Z")
Bender: “And now, a man who needs no introduction!” (walks off podium) (nothing happens) Bender: “Fry, get up there!” ---
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/7 "2011-01-26T22:09:05Z")
Huh. I followed the link to the Liar Paradox page on Wikipedia that **Giles** posted about not posting, and while it’s not clear if the paradox I’m talking about is an example of it, it does do a good job of showing why it’s a paradox: The paradox in question, rather than being a statement that paradoxically asserts its own falsehood, is a statement that contains evidence of its own falsehood. It’s like if Magritte wrote “This is not a pipe.” _on a pipe_. It also keeps reminding me of a thread I remember here where someone asked how it could be an apology when someone said “I’d like to apologize to you.” The response was that it was something called a something like a “declarative act”- I’m probably remembering that wrong- like when a priest says “I now pronounce you man and wife.” EDIT: Clearly I need to type faster **Ludovic**. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/8 "2011-01-27T00:46:08Z")
[This is not a pipe.](http://foucault.info/documents/img/notapipe/Magritte-pipe.jpg) And it’s not. Neither is [this](http://www.deltat.com/uploaded/In-Line_Pipe_Heater_from_Convectronics.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/9 "2011-01-27T01:24:57Z")
Oxymoron? Contradiction in terms? > [@Strain\_of\_Thought](#): > > Huh. I followed the link to the Liar Paradox page on Wikipedia that **Giles** posted about not posting, and while it’s not clear if the paradox I’m talking about is an example of it, it does do a good job of showing why it’s a paradox: The paradox in question, rather than being a statement that paradoxically asserts its own falsehood, is a statement that contains evidence of its own falsehood. It’s like if Magritte wrote “This is not a pipe.” _on a pipe_. > > It also keeps reminding me of a thread I remember here where someone asked how it could be an apology when someone said “I’d like to apologize to you.” The response was that it was something called a something like a “declarative act”- I’m probably remembering that wrong- like when a priest says “I now pronounce you man and wife.” > > EDIT: Clearly I need to type faster **Ludovic**. I have read, I don’t know where, that ‘this is not a pipe’ was not just being cleverly funny because it clearly was a pipe, but also childishly funny because pipe is or was a common term for the penis. Maybe French-speaking dopers can confirm if this is true? The term for statements such as ‘I now pronounce you man and wife’ is not just declarative, because that’s a much broader term - ‘I’m going to post this in a minute’ is a declarative statement. ‘I now pronounce you man and wife’ actually _makes that happen_ - it changes things merely by the matter of being said - depending on the laws where you live, and it has a special name all of its own, but it’s hidden in the back of my brain and won’t come out to play. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/10 "2011-01-27T01:28:08Z")
The object labelled “This is not a pipe” is, in fact, not a pipe: it is a picture of a pipe. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/11 "2011-01-27T01:29:30Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The object labelled “This is not a pipe” is, in fact, not a pipe: it is a picture of a pipe. Yes, but I think it had an extra level - a subterranean level, perhaps, considering how low the humour is - as a play on a term for penis. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/12 "2011-01-27T02:53:27Z")
[This post is intentionally left blank](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentionally_blank_page). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/13 "2011-01-27T05:14:34Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [This post is intentionally left blank](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentionally_blank_page). I’m not going to make a joke about minds being intentionally left blank. (And I didn’t. I described the joke, or perhaps a category of jokes. You made the joke for yourself, assuming you found that funny.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/14 "2011-01-27T05:20:51Z")
By giving the thread a title, you haven’t created a paradox-you have merely contradicted yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/15 "2011-01-27T05:30:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > By giving the thread a title, you haven’t created a paradox-you have merely contradicted yourself. Yeah, it wasn’t the best choice as a demonstration. “This Thread Has No Title” would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/16 "2011-01-27T05:37:13Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > You may be interested in Raymond Smullyan’s [This Book Needs No Title](http://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Needs-Title-Touchstone/dp/0671628313), which muses on paradoxes of this sort. (He also has a similar book, whose name I can’t recall at the moment). At the risk of making a second serious post in this thread, I believe the name of the book you are thinking of is [What is the Name of This Book?](http://www.amazon.com/What-Name-This-Book-Dracula/dp/0486481980/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296106437&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/17 "2011-01-27T06:43:39Z")
This sentence is false. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/18 "2011-01-27T10:22:34Z")
This sentance has three errers. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/19 "2011-01-27T12:45:00Z")
[Here is a link to nowhere.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowhere) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100/20 "2011-01-27T12:48:16Z")
I know a joke. Somebody say, “knock knock.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-going-to-give-this-thread-a-title/569100.md?page=2)