# What is that thing called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117 "2011-08-02T00:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/1 "2011-08-02T00:23:32Z")
I’m having a brain fart at the moment and cannot recall what this thing is called. It’s not the title of the book, but it is the “tagline” normally written in smaller print on the cover. An example something like, “He fought the law - and won!” Any help would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/2 "2011-08-02T00:35:02Z")
Um, subtitle? ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/3 "2011-08-02T00:35:32Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Um, subtitle? Derp! There you go. I think that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/4 "2011-08-02T02:49:39Z")
Actually, from the example in the OP I’d say no. A subtitle is an alternate title, usually longer, and will normally start with **or** as in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” or “Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress”. I think what you have there is a [blurb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blurb), which is a kind of advertising byline: > [@](#): > > A blurb on a book or a film can be any combination of quotes from the work, the author, the publisher, reviewers or fans, a summary of the plot, a biography of the author or simply claims about the importance of the work. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/5 "2011-08-02T03:06:20Z")
In newspapers and magazines, a secondary title line is sometimes called a _kicker_. In traditional newspaper usage that goes above the main headline. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/6 "2011-08-02T07:05:15Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Actually, from the example in the OP I’d say no. A subtitle is an alternate title, usually longer, and will normally start with **or** as in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” or “Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress”. > > I think what you have there is a [blurb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blurb), which is a kind of advertising byline: Non-fiction works often have a brief main title that is often intended to be eye catching and ‘clever’ in some way, followed by a colon and then a subtitle that actually directly states what the book is about in a duller, more literal way. I think you are right that what the OP describes is not a subtitle, but I think a blurb is usually something a good deal longer: a brief paragraph at the least, giving either a synopsis of the contents or extolling them (or both). Blurbs are usually on the back cover or the inside flap of a dust jacket. I think **Mr Downtown** ’s suggestion is more like it, although _strap line_ or _catch line_ are also possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/7 "2011-08-02T07:56:36Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Actually, from the example in the OP I’d say no. A subtitle is an alternate title, usually longer, and will normally start with **or** as in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” or “Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress”. Those are not subtitles, They are parts of the titles. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/8 "2011-08-02T13:06:58Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Those are not subtitles, They are parts of the titles. Then what are subtitles? Nothing I have seen lists those as part of the actual title. Heck, even Wiki lists those two as examples in its subtitle article, albeit without sources. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/9 "2011-08-02T13:42:55Z")
It’s a matter of interpretation. Some librarians would call them subtitles like whoever has catalogued “Dr Strangelove” for the British National Bibliography. I would hesitate to do it as they look more like some kind of alternate titles. A better and less ambiguous example from my desktop: [http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p157/Floater\_photo/02082011225.jpg](http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p157/Floater_photo/02082011225.jpg). Here there’s no question of what is the main title and what is a subtitle. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/10 "2011-08-02T14:16:00Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > In newspapers and magazines, a secondary title line is sometimes called a _kicker_. In traditional newspaper usage that goes above the main headline. Or a deck: BUS PLUNGES INTO RIVER All passengers believed dead ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-called/591117/11 "2011-08-02T20:05:09Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > It’s a matter of interpretation. Some librarians would call them subtitles like whoever has catalogued “Dr Strangelove” for the British National Bibliography. I would hesitate to do it as they look more like some kind of alternate titles. > > A better and less ambiguous example from my desktop: [http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p157/Floater\_photo/02082011225.jpg](http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p157/Floater_photo/02082011225.jpg). Here there’s no question of what is the main title and what is a subtitle. **Floater** is correct. Both of those examples are what librarians call alternative titles. AACR2 defines it this way: > [@](#): > > An alternative title is a second, equally independent title that appears with the first title and is preceded by the word “or” or its equivalent in another language. > > Alternative titles are most often found on 19th and early 20th century serials; they are rarely encountered on current serials. Alternative titles are marked by a very specific syntax in library catalogs: comma space “or” comma. As in Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman / by Mary Wollstonecraft. In cataloging it’s handled differently from a subtitle. For one thing, alternative titles get added title entries, while subtitles don’t.