Colon Question!

Censorsh!t

Hi folks,

I have trawled through google trying to find an answer for this but can't find one.

I'm currently trying to come up with a title for a conference paper, and they are often structured to have a snappy title, followed by a colon and a more explanatory title, so for instance, there's a book called The Victorians: An Age in Retrospect. Not that The Victorians is very snappy...but anyway...

The first part of my title, it is a play on a well used phrase, "Smash the Patriarchy!", and I think this looks best with the exclamation mark. The only thing is, is it acceptable to have a colon right after an exclamation mark? I think it looks messy.

So my options are

1. to leave it out:
"Smash the Patriarchy: The bla bla bla bla..."

2. to leave it in:
"Smash the Patriarchy!: The bla blg alfg..."

3. Someone suggested to put the exc. mark in brackets?:
"Smash the Patriarchy(!): The Bla blfjfsjf..."


I think option 1 removes the sense of humour that I'm trying to convey. Option 2 looks funny, and option 3....I don't know!


Apologies for the long winded way of asking a question!

P. Breathnach

Because your lead title is a well-established expression, you can validly enclose it in quotes, allowing:
"Smash the Patriarchy!": The bla-bla-bla

pickarooney

Would a dash be any better than a colon here?

P. Breathnach

pickarooney wrote: »

Would a dash be any better than a colon here?

The use of a colon to separate main title from subtitle is a very well-established convention.

pickarooney

Smash the convention!