Befriending the Colon: Carter's Rule of Entitlement

So you want to write a snappy, clever, memorable title--just like Joe Carter? You're in luck, friend, because I can show you how. I'm practically a Carter expert, having culled through the last couple months' worth of titles to figure out how he does it. There's one simple rule: always use a colon.

Consider these examples.

• Dawkin’s Apparent Absurdities: Richard Dawkins and the Hermeneutic of Atheism
• Of Theocrats and Theophobes: Carter’s Law of Political Rhetoric
• The Embryo Eaters: A Bioethical Thought Experiment
• Insurance Regulation: Say’s Law and the Demand for Abortion
• The One-Flesh Union: An Evangelical View of Sex and Marriage
• Industrialized Sex: How Christians Can Restore True Intimacy
• Chappe’s Progeny: In Praise of Linkers
• Monkeyfishing, Miracles, and the Media: Why Do We Trust the Press?
• Info-Techno Sabbath: Unplugging the God of Information Technology
• Positively Illogical: The Absurdity of Naturalistic Ethics
• Noses Pressed Against Mirrors: Recovering Wisdom in the Blogosphere
• Experts in Stupidity: Conservatism and the Moral Intelligence of Society
• Other People’s Navels: Bloggers on Blogging
• Naturalism for Dummies: Contradictions, Causal Connections, and the Center for Naturalism
• God’s Refrigerator: Can Christians Save the Visual Arts (Part II)
• More Than Many Sparrows: The Limits of Empiricism
• Truly Catholic: Reflections on the Death of John Paul II
• Soul Time: Temporality and the Intermediate State

It's that simple. But there's more. Corrolaries include, but are not limited to...

alliteration

• Apparent Absurdities
• Theocrats and Theophobes
• Embryo Eaters

neologism

• exnihilating
• info-techno

the ______ of _______

• The Hermeneutic of Atheism
• the Moral Intelligence of Society
• The Limits of Empiricism

Bonus Quiz: Real Carter Title or Clever Imitation?

a) Real Carter Title
b) Clever Imitation

1. Selling the Farm: Conservatism and the Ethics of Subsidies

2. Deadwood in the Pews: the Trouble with Church

3. The EGGs in the Mystic's Basket: Physicalism and the Global Consciousness Project

4. Kinkade's Cottage Fantasy: The Dispiriting Art of Thomas Kinkade

5. Here's MUD in Your Eye: A Christian View of Online Gaming

6. Taming Tom Sawyer: Ritalin as a Substitute for Character

7. Down the Up Staircase: Architecture as a Moral Concern








answers:
1. b
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. b
6. a
7. b