"Rant: Lack of Imagination" Topic

I thought it would be interesting to read W. Stanley Moss's book "Ill Met by Moonlight," about a British raid to capture the German commander on Crete during World War II, so I went to the Barnes & Noble website to look for it since I have several gift cards there. Turns out there are seven different books at B&N by that title, leaving me wondering why people who write long imaginative novels can't be bothered to think up a new and potentially more appropriate title for their own book. I know, it's a quote from Shakespeare, but still . . .

To add insult to injury, B&N is out of the Moss book just now.

Grumpy Grelber

Titles can't by copyrighted.
Same "problem" occurs with music.

Maybe we are running out of words?

Seems to be harder and harder to come up with good titles for wargaming rulesets, for example.

I made that exact observation about Battle of the Bulge boardgames years ago.
Avalon Hill planted the flag on that name for keeps. Every game since then just had a tortured name.

Sometimes folk are not aware of the others or are not concerned.
It happens with more important titles too. Towns for example ; Springfield?

martin

"The Life of Neville Chamberlain" , when it could be any of several important British officers on the NW Frontier.

Presidents Roosevelt?
I went to Grammar School Grade 1-6 in a school named after Ted. Legend has it that Franklin visited it in one of his campaigns. Let's just say that I am not requiring anyone to believe that.

Why do Popes and Kings Henry and Louis get Roman numerals?

Why do Popes and Kings Henry and Louis get Roman numerals?

Also Russian and (I believe) Prussian generals. Too many of the same name.

I think Richmond actually holds title as the most common place name in the English-speaking world.

But lack of imagination in titles and names is an annoyance. Lack of imagination in content is a serious problem.

That's nothing. Try researching the Scottish and Irish armies of the C17th Wars of the Three Kingdoms. I thought the Scottish gentry had limited imagination giving every male first born the same name. The Irish are much much worse, there are often 3 or 4 arms of each family using exactly the same names. Just when you think you are getting somewhere you realise that you have completely the wrong person.

I suppose I'm guilty for having named my sons Larry, Daryl and Daryl?

George R R Martin: "Hold my beer. Aegon, Aenys, Aemond, Rhaena, Rhaenys, Rhaenyra, and make them all blonde. Throw in some Roman numerals when there is no Latin in Westeros."

Seriously, I think that the creator of The Simpsons chose Springfield for that very reason.

Keep, you get no sympathy from me. I've been tracking Continental officers, and three men of military age of the same name per New England farming village is the norm--father, son and nephew.

Yesterday doing Pennsylvania, I hit two different Adam Hubleys who both died in the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1798. Earlier in the week it was two different John Hoges serving as subalterns.

You'd think with slightly more esoteric names it would be easier than finding out about a particular John Smith… alas not. Robert P – I feel your pain

Dave!

Save your money and a car ride!

Follow this link to any number of new and used copies of the book in question starting at $4.00 USD--postpaid!

Sheeeeh… I gave up on B&N years ago….

TVAG!

I live in (a) Springfield and am starting to feel picked on. :)

pjm

Maybe we are running out of words?

The tech industry, government agencies, and the military seem to have used up all the TLAs,* so it's no wonder.

*Three Letter Abbreviations

Since the title "Ill Met by Moonlight" is a quote from Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream one could argue (successfully!) that even the book you were looking for had copied its title from elsewhere…

It's up to at least four, Oberlindes. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has to share with the Dirt Track Racing Association, and the Underground Facilities Analysis Center with the Upholstered Furniture Action Council. No, I didn't invent any of the four.

But evidently either authors or publishers are awarded bonus points for Shakespeare quote titles. I THINK it was worse in the Golden Age of the Mystery Novel--authors and readers both having been exposed to more Shakespeare--but remember it's cumulative: all the books which have ever used that title will show up in a good search. Seven books with the same Shakespeare quote title means one every twenty years since comercial publishing took off in Victorian times.

"there are often 3 or 4 arms of each family using exactly the same names."

Buried in my own family tree are at least SIX generations in a row having the same first & last names for fathers/sons (we have to use the wives' names to untangle the geneaology, and even then…)

6 branches all using the same names and as soon as anyone of them does something famous they all claim he's theirs. I have no idea how many branches of the Doyle family claim the Danny Doyle who played football (soccer) for Celtic, but it certainly caused a lot of problems when my first wife was trying to sort out her family tree.

Robert

My aunt, an elderly nun, tried to assemble a "family tree" type of thing.
It claimed a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first Catholic bishop of the United States. Well, even Jesuits supposedly took vows of chastity…
But this all took place around 1776, and my ancestors can trace roots back to the Potato Famine of the 1840s. 🤷 Some came later.
I think it would have been cool to have a San Patricio in there.
But, Archbishop (yes! He got promoted) John Carroll is there. My grandfather was Michael and so was my brother. My uncle was John, a priest who passed years before I was born.
Yeah. We Irish are full of it.