worn-out titular tropes TS: Zen and the Art of [X] vs The [Occupation's] [(usually female) relative]

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Bookmark Removed

Or any others you can think of.

― pr00de descending a staircase (pr00de), Monday, 15 August 2005 06:25 (twenty years ago)

How I learned [to accept/defeat psychological problem] and love [an adjusted amount of success]

― Navek Rednam (Navek Rednam), Monday, 15 August 2005 09:30 (twenty years ago)

Zen For Dummies.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 15 August 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

Fear and Loathing in/at [X]

― holojames (holojames), Monday, 15 August 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

[First name] [Last name].

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 15 August 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

[Jocose Title, perhaps involving A Pun]: [Author/Work] and [Thing]

― tom west (thomp), Monday, 15 August 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

[Word in a Jane Austen title] and [Word similar to a word in a Jane Austen title]

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 15 August 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

[Ambulatory Method] toward [Biblical City as Metaphor]

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 15 August 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

Kafka's Blah Blah (Blah Blah for Kafka, etc.)

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 15 August 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

Also [Important literary figure]'s [object that sounds strange in possession of literary figure]

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 15 August 2005 23:47 (twenty years ago)

[Five-letter word].

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

Just to show you I'm not exaggerating, some results from an Amazon search, which, as far as I can tell, are not scholarly works on Kafka's literature:

Kafka was the Rage (which is actually a pretty enjoyable memoir)
Kafka's Curse: A Novel
Kafka on the Shore (Murakami)
The Kafka Effekt
Kafka's Dick (which is a play)
The Kafka Chronicles (which is by, I shit you not, "Mark Amerika")
There Goes Kafka

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

the supposedly k-bad booker-bait novel in bridget jones (poss. just movie version) is called 'Kafka's Motorbike'.

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 10:05 (twenty years ago)

Are books with titles that follow the formula of "[famous person's name]'s [noun]" something to always avoid?

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 11:05 (twenty years ago)

The [Renaissance Figure] Code

― SRH (Skrik), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

This one has already been made fun of plenty but "The History of [seemingly-insignificant item]"

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

[Noun], [Adjectival word or phrase].

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 03:29 (twenty years ago)

Years back, a friend of mine suggested

[Abstract Noun] and Its Discontents

but maybe that's cooled off recently.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

[Something] Babylon/Confidential

― Navek Rednam (Navek Rednam), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

How to [Something] And Not [Something Else]

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Kafka on the Shore (Murakami)

My mom is reading this. She says it is a COOL BOOK to be seen reading.

― I'm Hi, Jared Fogle (ex machina), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

The End of [something that will never end]

― late adopter, Monday, 22 August 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

[Two-word Pun]:[15 word explanation of said pun].
Common in university press books, such as
Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society

― Arachne, Monday, 22 August 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

I really want to use a title like that for an album title.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 22 August 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Maybe I should retroactively give such subtitles to all my albums, actually.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 22 August 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

[Insert Noun, Adjective or Verb] in a Nutshell
I once saw "Derrida in a Nutshell" - is that even possible? I don't think he would like that.

― salexander, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

That's hilarious.

Learn [Verb] in [Some Laughably Small Number of] Days

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 23:43 (twenty years ago)

Learn the Britannica Encyclopedia in 7 days (or your money back) - or better still, learn how to spell "encyclopedia" in 7 days. I always forget, does it have an "a" in it?

― salexander, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

It depends on which side of "the pond" you live on -- a lot of words where British folk retained the "ae" or "oe" were simplified to "e" in the US. So "aesthetic" became "esthetic" and "amoeba" became "ameba" and "foetus" became "fetus" and "encyclopaedia" became "encyclopedia".

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

According to the "Oxford Quick Reference Dictionary and Thesaurus" - which is obviously British - it is "encyclopedia": n. book of information on many subjects. I'm an Australian, so seeing as we are still part of the Commonwealth (grrr)will go with that spelling. For the lazy it is great, one less letter. Sorry what a dull conversation but at least it cleared up one recurring question. I wonder, do the people who write encyclopedias ever choose to write in eloquent prose or are they officially bound to write prosaically. Ha, they are truly "walking encyclopedias".

― salexander, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

There is an Oxford American Dictionary, though. But also I'm not sure if British usage has shifted to reflect American innovation, so to speak. I'm sure once the British folk wake up they will elucidate.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

Nope this edition was published by the Oxford University Press. So the British are being Americanised, how quaint - truly the Empire writing back to the Centre and even colonising the coloniser.

― salexander, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 03:55 (twenty years ago)

Bloedy Aemericans

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 04:34 (twenty years ago)

A prediction:
13 Ways of Looking at a [something]
only two of them so far, but I fear more to come.

― Arachne (Arachne), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 12:50 (twenty years ago)

There are more than two.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

http://www.google.com/search?hs=4Xp&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%2213+ways+of+looking+at+a%22+-blackbird&btnG=Search

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

A Hundred and One [anything]

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 22 September 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...

I've recently noticed several books called "Where ---- Fear to Tread"

One was "Where Soldiers Fear to Tread," don't remember the others. But this one particularly annoys me because the original titular phrase kind of loses its meaning if you change the word "angels" to something else. It's a little like calling a book "A Condfederacy of Laborers" or something like that.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:08 (nineteen years ago)

Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?

― Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:13 (nineteen years ago)

Seven Chicken Soups For The Souls Of Very Successful People.

― Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:20 (nineteen years ago)

How To Survive The Coming Catastrophe And Grow Filthy Rich In The Bargain

― Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:26 (nineteen years ago)

OTM - I was actually reading a bit of the one about Gold and the coming collapse of the dollar on my honeymoon. Wasn't very convincing. It was only 3 days, btw. And I got married August 20.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 7 September 2006 04:42 (nineteen years ago)

mark amerika used to be pretty awesome, i thought back in high school at least.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Confessions Of An [Adjective] [Noun].

― Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:17 (nineteen years ago)

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