[Taxacom] Ornamental flourishes

[Ken Kinman]

Hi Geoff,     I see no problem with those three examples.  They are catchy, informative, and in good taste.  The trouble is that such trends in today's world eventually end up inviting low-brow copy-cats who stoop to being misleading or even vulgar (just to stand out and attract attention).  When editors allow that sort of thing to creep into the scientific literature, that's when it will no longer deserve our approval.  Not that I think it will happen anytime soon, but in a world that increasingly celebrates self-serving sensationalism which overshadows any higher purpose (information), such examples are bound to crop up eventually.                  ----------------Ken
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> Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 14:00:12 +1200
> From: gread at actrix.gen.nz
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: [Taxacom] Ornamental flourishes
> 
> Do taxacomers approve of paper titles which preface the nitty-gritty of
> the descriptive part with an adaption of a cliche phrase such as those
> below?
> 
> At the bottom of the deep blue sea: a new wood-boring bivalve (Mollusca,
> Pholadidae, Xylophaga) from the Cape Verde Abyssal Plain (subtropical
> Atlantic)
> 
> Between a whale bone and the deep blue sea: the provenance of dwarf males
> in whale bone‐eating tubeworms
> 
> These two aren't bad actually, having some wit & relevance, but is this
> 'lightening up' with embellishments a phenomenon to be encouraged? It
> seems to be getting more common. I suppose it can make a paper more
> memorable if original.
> 
> Here's another ocean-related one.
> 
> Descending into the abyss: Bathymetric patterns of diversity in decapod
> crustaceans shift with taxonomic level and life strategies.
> 
> Geoff
> 
> 
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