[Taxacom] Ornamental flourishes

[Boyle, Bradley L - (bboyle)]

Sorry, folks, but am I the only one for whom hyphenated humorous titles have become a cliche of scientific writing? As gruesome as "off the bat" or "in this day and age"?

Not that I don't like humorous titles. I just hate to see them shackled to that dreaded hyphen-serious-second-clause. 

I've always been a fan of Dan Janzen titles:

"Why mountain passes are higher in the tropics"
"How to be a fig"
"The fruit the gomphotheres ate"

While hardly self-explanatory (what's an abstract for, after all?) such titles are so provocative you just have to read the paper. Anyway, these days a good search engine will get you what you want, regardless of title. 

Alas, it's a hopeless crusade. Try a vigorous, hyphen-free title and you will soon be beaten down by editors who insist on that serious-second-clause.

- Brad


> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Geoff Read
> Sent: Tuesday, 22 May 2012 12:00 PM
> 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?
>