In yesterday’s post I deployed a colon in the title. To be honest, I thought that my first title was a little too vague and artsy and wanted to give the search engines at least a little something to chew over. To give you, more precisely, a little clue about the contents of what’s inside the wrapper. “I don’t know who this Spaceman guy is, but I’ve lost a little sleep over COVID this past year, so why not?”
I regret that decision. Not enough to go back and edit the post — that would be cheating — but enough to mull it over a bit.
When I was in college, there was a burst of novels and movies with short, cryptic titles. There’s nothing wrong with that. Red was a great movie. Atonement was a pretty good book. Snow was good, too. Being college students, of course, my friends and I made fun of this poetical trend and declared we were working on novels named things like Donkey and Hairbrush. Kids will be kids. (If you’re remembering that I’m 50 and doing the math along with the copyright dates of these titles and the years I might’ve been in college, press pause. It’s complicated.)
A bit later, things trended the other way — as trends often will do — and the market filled up with long-winded titles. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Teaser titles that almost-but-not-really told you a story. There’s nothing wrong with this, either. It’s pretty good marketing, actually — like a free sample. If this intrigues you, buy the book and have a larger helping.
The colon-ized title irks me because it’s the worst of both worlds. It throws a cheeky, vague impression at you and then attempts to toss in the punchline along with it. “Here’s something mysterious and intriguing; AND HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS.” It’s like doing a card trick and them immediately revealing the secret. In a better world, you’d have the courage of your convictions. Either all in with the poesy or just say what you mean and be done with it.
Death of a Spaceman:
Ooh! Is he actually dying? Is this about astronauts? Wasn’t there a play with that name? Is it SpaceMAN or SPACE-mun?
I Can’t Sleep Some Nights and I Think It’s Because I’m Kind of Afraid of Dying Even Though I Put on a Calm Face for the World:
Oh. That’s what it’s about.