As a matter of colon: I am NOT digging cheeky titles (no, but actually yes :>)

Joanne Tan; Tie Sien Suk

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arXiv · 2303.17059

As a matter of colon: I am NOT digging cheeky titles (no, but actually yes :>)

Joanne Tan·Tie Sien Suk

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Abstract

What's in a name, a poet once asked. To which we present this work, where we investigate the importance of a paper title in ensuring its best outcome. We queried astronomy papers using NASA ADS and ranked 6000 of them in terms of cheekiness level. We investigate the correlation between citation counts and (i) the presence of a colon, and (ii) cheekiness ranking. We conclude that colon matters in the anatomy of a paper title. So does trying to be cheeky, but we find that too much cheekiness can lead to cringefests. Striking the right balance is therefore crucial. May we recommend aiming for a level 4 cheekiness on a scale of 1-5.

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Joanne Tan, Tie Sien Suk. 2023-03-29. As a matter of colon: I am NOT digging cheeky titles (no, but actually yes :>). https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.17059

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