Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise
Go Ad-Free
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Long Title

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwwpinterestcom.jpg
This is a common trope by Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco.

"Mastropiero, as it was the habit, named his madrigal after the first verse of the poem, calling it Ye Beautiful and Graceful Maiden Went To Do Her Laundry but the lengthiness of this title seemed inadequate, so he renamed his madrigal as Ye Beautiful and Graceful Maiden Went To Do Her Laundry, She Clean'd In Ye Creek, And Wash'd As She Sang, Rubb'd Against A Rock, Hang'd It From A Birch and Les Luthiers has the pleasure to play tonight Johann Sebastian Mastropiero's Ye Beautiful and Graceful Maiden... mumble ...Hang'd It From A Birch."
— Les Luthiers in La Bella y Graciosa Moza Routine
Advertisement:

Aka: That Trope Where Shows, Books, Films, Video Games, or Songs Have Ridiculously Long and Generally Unwieldy Titles Which in Modern Times Is Usually Used for Comic Effect, Although Occasionally This Trope Is Instead Employed to Instead Mock Media Which Is Already Perceived to Have an Overly Long Title, Though in the Case of This, Trope Is Being Used in an Ironic Self-Describing Way.

Or TTWSBFVGOSHRLAGUTWIMTIUUFCEAOTTIIETIMMWIAPTHAOLTTITCOTTIBUIAISDW for short.

Exactly what it sounds like: something with a very long title.

Differs from In Which a Trope Is Described by being only about names; differs from Exactly What It Says on the Tin by not being required to be accurate. Sometimes uses colons extensively (but see also Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle). See Overly Long Name for when this applies to characters.

Advertisement:

It is worth noting that in the 18th and 19th centuries, titles were used to interest people in a particular book, in the same way back-side blurbs are today. (A work with an Either/Or Title, even if was created after that time period, is highly likely to have a Long Title as well, as Either/Or Title was a commonly used trope in such 18th- and 19th-century titles, and its usage these days is often an element of a deliberate throwback to such titles.) Japanese Light Novels use it for the same reason today.

The diametric opposite of One-Word Title (even when it is a word like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) and No Title. See Try to Fit THAT on a Business Card! and Overly Long Name for when this applies to characters. See also Colon Cancer.

Not to be confused with Long Titles vs. Short Titles and Short Titles.

Advertisement:

Examples of long titles that reside on their own pages and can be reached via the following links:

An incomplete but ever-expanding listing of instances where this title trope has been applied in various media, as relentlessly compiled by The Contributors to TV Tropes:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime/Manga: Or, Televisual performances produced in the State of Japan, with considerably differing scope, visual style and manner of subject from animated production originating in the Western worlds, despite sharing a common means of conveyance 
  • Genshiken has a Running Gag of naming its chapters with a very verbose and academic-sounding title. The chapter where the group goes shopping on Akihabara, for example, is called "Comparative Classification of the Modern Youth Through Consumption and Entertainment".
    • And "Genshiken" itself is an abbreviation for Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyūkai, or "The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture".
  • A good number of chapters from the Hayate the Combat Butler manga have really long titles.
  • The title of episode six of He Is My Master is absurdly long. The full title is "The Sawatari Izumi Contest Series!! A Daring Test of Courage!! An Express Train to a Secret Hotsprings in the Northeast, a Mother-in-law Murdered in the Mist, a Madonna Teacher from an Elite Family Burning with Desire as They Watch a Housewife Battle For Control of Her Troubled Mansion!!". Episode five's title (which essentially describes the premise of the series) isn't much shorter.
  • In one episode of Un-Go: Inga Nikki, Inga suggested an alternative name for the specials: "Ano Hi Mita Boku no Imouto wa Tantei nanka Zenzen Suki ja naindakedo Tomodachi wa Kanji ga Yomeru".
  • Kyoto Animation's recent (Jan 2009) anime. Behold Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (loosely The World Reflected in the Eyes of a Girl who Looks Up at the Sky). Fortunately, said anime is a remake/continuation of the studio's earlier OVA titled Munto and its sequel, which allows the fans to call the series Munto the TV instead.
  • All of the Baccano! episode titles are long and overly descriptive.
  • Taku Iwasaki had a lot of fun thinking up song titles for the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann soundtrack.
  • The series title Sumeba Miyako no Cosmos-sou Suttoko Taisen Dokkoida (translation: Living in the Cosmos House, Foolish Dokkoida's Great Battle) was shortened to simply Dokkoida?! when brought to the US.
  • Episode 26 of School Rumble is called "Totsuzen no 'sayonara'... Mayoikonda rabirinsu... Anata wa dare? ...Oshiete. 'Surechigai' 'Kataomoi' todoke, boku no kimochi. Todoke, watashi no omoi. Tabun ichido shikanai kisetsu, seishun no 1 pēji. Kore ga saigo no chansu, tashikametai... Kimi no kimochi. Tsutawaru kotoba, tsutawaranai omoi. Ano hi no kokuhaku, eien no ichinichi, dakedo... Itsumademo tsuzuiteiku, watashi tachi no 'ima'. Soshite ashita e... 'sukūru ranburu fōebā'". The official translation is just "School Rumble Forever!", cutting it down to the final three words (which are just Gratuitous English).
    • For those curious, the translation is "A Sudden Goodbye...Lost in a Labyrinth...Who are You?...Tell Me. Chance Encounters and Unrequited Love, Reach My Feelings. Reach My Thoughts. A Season That Probably Won't Come Again; One Page of Youth. This is My Last Chance; I Want to Confirm...Your Feelings. Words I Will Tell You, Thoughts I Won't Tell You. A Confession on That Day, That Eternal Day...but...Our 'Now' Will Go On Forever. And So, Tomorrow...School Rumble Forever."
  • Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Koen Mae Hashutsujo, which translates to This Is the Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward, is the longest-running series in Shounen Jump, and the series with the longest title. Everybody just calls it Kochikame.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion:
    • The English title for episode 15 is "Those women longed for the touch of others' lips, and thus invited their kisses."
    • The English title for episode 12 is "She said, 'Don't make others suffer for your personal hatred.'"
    • The Japanese title for episode 26 is "Sekai no chūshin de 'ai' wo sakenda kemono", which means "The beast who shouted (either 'love' or 'I') at the heart of the world".
      • This (specifically the "love" version) is also the title of a Hugo-winning short story by Harlan Ellison, and the collection in which that story is to be found.
    • The English title of episode 24 is "The Beginning of the End, or Knockin' on Heaven's Door".
  • Although the episode titles in Revolutionary Girl Utena tend to be average length (the longest being episode 11: Graceful and Ruthless- The One who Picks the Flower), the songs used within the show and movie are needlessly long and have a habit of lacking any sort of relevancy to the lyrics. Just to name a few: Inhuman Illusory Soul Fusion Magic, The Absolute Destiny Apocalypse with Universal Gravitation, A Confessional Elevator- The Daydreamer's Troublesome Insect (Imaginary Bad Bug), Magical Lantern Butterfly Moth 16th Century, An Immortal Emperor in a Mundane Universe, The Natural Compatriot's Palace Perspective Book, We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels, Cradled in the Grave of the World in the Hands of the World, Rose Naked Body ~ Shura Physical Constellation 45 Nebula, and The First Duelist may be Reborn! The Never-Ending History of the Middle Ages.
  • Gintama does this sometimes with its chapter/episode titles like "ストレスはハゲる原因になるがストレスをためないように気を配るとそこでまたストレスがたまるので結局僕らにできることなんて何もない," or "Stress can lead to baldness, but if you try not to be stressed then that will make you stressed, so there's nothing we can do" (chapter 22 of the manga, episode 53 of the anime).
    • Shinpachi learns his father's ultimate move in kendo - the "Evil Holy Sword Let's Dancing All Night Rising Special Ultra Miracle Super Mario Brothers Second Edition Luigi's Counterattack Director's Cut".
  • As the story progresses into longer arc of battles of progressively greater proportion, the titles of the chapters of Soul Hunter get ridiculously longer, more cutesy and humorously descriptive.
  • In Psyren, the government branch responsible for the Grigori experiment is the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Psychic Powers Development Research Facility's Mental Sensitivity Department.
  • The third Sailor Moon movie has the full title of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie: The 9 Sailor Soldiers Get Together! Miracle in the Black Dream Hole due to having parts that refer to the 4th series/season, the fact that it's a movie, and giving the movie a standard episode title card. Most ads omit the last part while many listings of the full name omit "The Movie" (despite appearing on posters) The English dub chops it down to Sailor Moon SuperS the Movie: Black Dream Hole.
  • The anime/manga series Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!!! ("I Don't Like You at All, Big Brother!!"), which has one of the longest titles as far as recent shows go.
  • Ano hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, which translates to "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day." Viewers came up with the Portmanteau Series Nickname "Ano Hana" posthaste. The series' American licensee NIS America shortens it to anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day.
  • Most episode titles in Best Student Council are of perfectly normal length, but episode 18 blindsides the viewer with "Hitoshi Satou, 28 years old, Occupation: Lawyer, Parents are Rich, and Even More Good Qualities to Make Him a Favorable Partner."
  • No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!, or its original title Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete Mo Omaera ga Warui!, which the former is merely a direct translation of. The short form is WataMote.
  • Courtesty of Zettai Karen Children - The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke is the official title of The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke.
  • Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru, which translates to My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy. Also known by the abbreviation Noucome.
  • The Black and White saga of the Pokémon anime went down a New Season, New Title track similar to the English dub with a saga dubbed Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2: Episode N, which was then followed up by Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2: Decolora Adventure!. By then, the dub was using the title Pokémon Black & White: Adventures in Unova (amended to Pokémon Black & White: Adventures in Unova & Beyond for the Decolore Islands arc respectively) for these particular episodes.
    • An episode was titled "Movie Time! Zorua in 'The Legend of the Pokémon Knight'!". The Japanese name of one episode was "Maintain and the Sunken Ship!! The Secret of the Mysterious Pokemon!".
  • Haiyore! Nyarko-san Remember my Love(craft-sensei) episode 9, which is entitled "How Mahiro Came to Love the Girl Despite Being a Normal High Schooler Who Cannot Even Sense in the Slightest That the Universe Is at Risk of Destruction, and Suppresses a Vague Worry That Tomorrow the Sun May Not Rise from the Same Direction or at the Same Speed or Even Shine at the Same Luminance and Follow the Same Orbit". It's even longer in Japanesenote 
  • The episode titles of Servant × Service are often very long.
    • Episode 1: Be Careful About How You Refer to Someone, and Why
    • Episode 2: Don't Panic, Make a Scene, or Throw Away Your Job
    • Episode 3: Don't Neglect the Safety of You or Your Workplace
    • Episode 4: Beware of Next Week's Unseen Danger
    • Episode 5: Everyone Has Close Calls. Learn from Them and Keep the Workplace Healthy
  • Saikin Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga
  • Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu. In English it translates to "Preferential Measure Organization Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C³". The anime abbreviates the title to just Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-Bu, which is still pretty long. note 
  • I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying is long enough, but the Japanese title Danna ga Nani o Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken is even longer—it literally means The Matter of Not Understanding What My Husband is Saying.
  • Episode 9 of Zombie Land Saga is called Though My Life May Have Ended Once By Some Twist of Fate I Have Risen, and If Song and Dance Are to Be My Fate, Then Carrying the Memories of My Comrades In My Heart As I Sally Forth Shall Be My SAGA. The episode's preview narration consists entirely of Saki reciting the title, followed by, "Holy crap, that's long!"
  • Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen (Kaguya Wants to be Confessed to: The Geniuses' War of Love and Brains). Averted with the English release, which is titled Kaguya-sama: Love is War. And the author originally wanted to go with the much shorter title IQ.
    • In-universe, Ishigami is at one point shown reading a Light Novel titled Do You Like The Socially Awkward Guy From Another World?
  • Kengo Matsumoto brings us A Story About Treating a Female Knight Who Has Never Been Treated as a Woman, as a Woman, the plot is exactly what the title says it is, starring a peerless female knight and learning how to deal with an earnest and honest love confession. The English title is presumably a direct translation of its Japanese title Ima made Ichido mo Onna Atsukaisareta Koto ga nai Jokishi wo Onna Atsukai Suru. When it was picked up for an official English release, it got changed to the much more manageable How to Treat a Lady Knight Right
  • The Strongest Wizard Becomes A Countryside Guardsman After Taking An Arrow To The Knee not only is fully 14 words long, but references a Forced Meme while at it.
  • Though Young People Recoil From Entering the Black Magic Industry, I Found Its Treatment of Employees Quite Good When I Entered It, and the President and Familiar Are Cute Too So Everything Is Awesome, which is, well, read the title. It's so long, the trope page, Though Young People Recoil From Entering The Black Magic Industry, could only fit the first 3rd of it!
  • I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up. The original title translates to "I decided to fake a marriage with my junior (♀️) to shut my parents up."

    Art: Or, visual media made in either two- or three-dimensional form, intended to evoke myriad emotions in its viewers, raging from calm, to awe, to intrigue or confusion 
  • Some of Salvador Dalí's paintings have ridiculously specific (but precisely accurate) titles: Apparition of a Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach, Face of Mae West Which May Be Used as an Apartment, Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire, Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, One Second Before Awakening from a Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate...
  • An artwork by Marcel Duchamp: The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (in the original French, La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même). It's most often called "The Large Glass" ("Le Grand Verre").
  • Rembrandt van Rijn's renowned The Shooting Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch Preparing to March Out. But you probably know it as The Night Watch.
  • J.M.W. Turner painted in 1840 "Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhon Coming On)". It's better known now as simply "The Slave Ship". At the time, Punch Magazine lampooned the title with one of their own: "A Typhoon, Bursting A Simmoon, Over A Whirlpool Maelstrom, Norway, A Ship on Fire, An Eclipse, With the Effect of a Lunar Rainbow".
  • Jan van Huysum's "Arcadian Landscape with Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man".
  • Herman van Vollenhoven's "The Painter in His Studio Painting the Portrait of a Married Couple".
  • Joseph Wright of Derby's painting A Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun.

    Asian Animation: Or, works made in the medium of animation that originate from any country located in the continent of Asia that isn't Japan, since that country's anime is prominent enough to have a separate folder 
  • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Some of the film titles, particularly if they have the name of the series added at the beginning.
    • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf - Desert Trek: The Adventure of the Lost Totemnote 
    • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf - Moon Castle: The Space Adventure
    • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf - Mission Incredible: Adventures on the Dragon's Trail
    • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf - The Mythical Ark: Adventures in Love & Happiness

    Audio Plays: Or, dramatic productions produced entirely using recorded sound waves stored upon a physical medium such as vinyl or plastic or magnetic tape, which use a wide variety of auditory tricks to make the listener think he's hearing real events as they actually occurred. 
  • The comedy troupe The Firesign Theater has a couple of albums with comically-long titles, including How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All, and Don't Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

    Comic Books: Or, Short stories printed on paper told through a mixture of sequential images and bubbles containing text, indicating what the characters are saying, thinking, and occasionally doing. 

    Cookbooks: Or, Written instructions on preparing comestibles, potables — that is, food and drink — for human consumption. 
  • How to Mix Drinks: Or, The Bon-vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States, Together with the Most Popular British, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish Recipes, Embracing Punches, Juleps, Cobblers, Etc., Etc., Etc., in Endless Variety by Jerry Thomas, the first manual on how to make cocktails—including the Blue Blazer, the first Flaming Cocktail.
  • The first truly American cookbook (i.e., containing original American recipes, in contrast to earlier cookbooks which, though published in the United States, were either reprints or adapted versions of European cookbooks), published in 1796, was titled American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards, and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake. Adapted to This Country, and All Grades of Life. By Amelia Simmons, An American Orphan.
  • "The Practical Distiller: or an introduction to making Whiskey, Gin, Brandy, Spirits, &c. &c. of better quality, and in larger quantities, than produced by the present mode of distilling, from the produce of the United States: such as Rye, Corn, Buckwheat, Apples, Peaches, Potatoes, Pumpions[sic] and Turnips. With directions how to conduct and improve the practical part of distilling in all its branches. Together with directions for purifying, clearing and colouring Whiskey, making Spirits similar to French Brandy, &c. from the Spirits of Rye, Corn, Apples, Potatoes &c. &c. and sundry extracts of approved receipts for making Cider, domestic Wines, and Beer." By Samuel Mc Harry, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania (1809) is notable for not only being immensely long, but also including '&c.' (etc.) in its title. Meaning it is in some ways an abbreviation.
  • A Kindle-published title; Coffee Beans: How to buy coffee beans and then use the best coffee beans from green coffee beans to gourmet coffee beans including chocolate covered coffee beans. It's a mouthful in more ways than one.
  • The Fanny Farmer Cookbook has been continuously in print (with 13 editions and revisions) since being first printed in 1896. The full title of the first edition is The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook by Fannie Merritt Farmer, Principal of the Boston Cooking-School. It wasn't until the 1965 edition that the title was officially shortened to "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook".

    Fan Works: Or, works and stories involving characters and settings from previously existing intellectual properties created by fans of said intellectual properties instead of their respective creators 

In General:

  • The fanfic title template Five Times [Character X] [verb phrase, most likely involving romance with Character Y] (And One Time (S)he Didn't). Depending on the verb phrase, of course, some may be lengthier than others.

By Work:

    Light Novels: Or, Works of prose, originating from the aforementioned State of Japan, which are written in an easily read style in order to target audiences comprising teenaged or young adult persons 

    Live-Action Television: Or, Televisual productions created through the orchestrated performance of living actors rather than by means of flashing pictures or other such deceptions 
  • Arrested Development features a religious talk show called "And As It Is Such, So Also Such Is It Unto You".
  • The Avengers episode "Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers..."
  • Britain's Got The Pop Factor... And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice, a comedy mash-up of various Reality TV shows (Britain's Got Talent, Pop Idol, X Factor, Jesus Christ Superstar, Strictly Come Dancing etc.) Gains bonus points for the fact that the presenter announced its full name before and after every commercial break.
  • El Chapulín Colorado had these for its episodes, but the one that takes the cake is one titled "Story of an old abandoned mine that dates back to the 17th century and is about to collapse". And the characters constantly said it over the course of the entire episode.
  • An episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show was titled "The Sound of the Trumpets of Conscience Falls Deafly on a Brain That Holds Its Ears ... or Something Like That!".
  • Doctor Who has a few stories with rather long titles:
  • The One with... episode naming style used by Friends occasionally resulted in rather long titles like "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister" or "The One Where Monica and Richard are Just Friends".
  • On The Good Place, the book Chidi spent his life writing. Its title starts: Who We Are and Who We Are Not: Practical Ethics and Their Application in the Modern World; a Treatise on the..., and then Michael interrupts Chidi before he can finish it.
  • Multiple programs on HGTV like House Hunters decide instead of a snappy and short title for each episode, to describe every situation of every episode, resulting in tongue twisters such as "Albert and Marie, Graduates of Harvard University, Decide to Look for a Reasonably Priced Townhouse in the Back Bay Neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts So That They May Start Their Careers and Later Raise a Family." Most likely this is because there's only so many episodes you can name Townhouse Search.
  • In-universe example: an episode of How I Met Your Mother centers around Barney's attempts to score with the author of a self-help book called Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look At Yourself, You Dumb Slut.
  • iCarly: The "Pathetic Plays" have these: "The Cowboy With A Mustache And The Idiot Farmgirl Who Thought The Mustache Was A Squirrel" and "The Englishman Who Was A Terrible Father To His Two Children Named Fuffley And Peeta", plus the pre-"pathetic" "The Prisoner Who Just Wanted Some Soup And The Man Who Refused To Give Him Some".
  • The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret has a long title, and "A Plan Is Hatched and a Date Is Not a Date" is the shortest episode title of the show.
  • The Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Please Note We Are No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation from Henry Kissinger".
  • North Korea has a propaganda show on correct and proper hairstyles titled Let's Trim Our Hair in Accordance with the Socialist Lifestyle.
  • Mad TV had a skit about a sitcom: My Gay Dad Always Steals My Boyfriends Even Though They Say They're Straight; They Promise Me They Won't Fall For Him But They Always Do Everytime Because He's So Irresistible They Can't Help Themselves And I Hate It. The skit also embodied Show Within a Show, Title Drop and Expository Theme Tune (in this case, the name of the sitcom recited to music).
  • Actress and Westinghouse spokesperson Betty Furness starred in a DuMont TV series called News Gal in 1951. That show was simulcast on ABC under what is believed to be the longest title for an US television series: Your Kaiser Dealer Presents Kaiser-Frazer "Adventures in Mystery", starring Betty Furness in "Byline".
  • The Office (US): The name of the titular fun run in the episode "Fun Run" is "Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure."
  • The Ronnie Johns Half Hour (full name The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show (Now on Television))
  • The third season of Star Trek had several of these, the longest of which is titled "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", and actually pulls off a believable Title Drop.
  • While the show itself does not qualify, an episode of Star Trek: Voyager features Naomi Wildman working on an essay titled, The Weird Planet Where Time Moved Very Fast and so did the People who Lived There. Seven of Nine helps her condense it.
  • Survivor: The first episode of the 13th season, Cook Islands, is titled "I Can Forgive Her But I Don't Have To Because She Screwed With My Chickens".
  • There was a 70s British kids' show called Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?, often abbreviated as WDYJSOYTSAGADSLBI or just Why Don't You...?
  • Kamen Rider Zero-One: What Will Pop Out of the Kangaroo? Think About It by Yourself! Yes! It must be me, Aruto!
  • Probe's "Black Cats Don't Walk Under Ladders (Do They?)"

    Machinima: Or, Web videos that have the use of real-time computer graphics to create a cinematic production, using software similar to that designed for making video and computer games 
  • SMG4's Mario Bloopers: One episode has a (shortly) long title, called "SMG3's Plan to Destroy SMG4 Cause He Felt Like It", as well as being described as the 'best title ever'.

    Pinball: Or, Indoor bagatelle games descended from the success of David Gottlieb's "Baffle Ball" pin game featuring skillful manipulation of metal balls using electro-mechanical paddle-like devices to properly strike targets to score inflated points 

    Professional Wrestling: Or, Men and/or sometimes women who compete in staged athletic competitions with predetermined endings and take part in planned storylines as a career. 
  • CHIKARA has held shows with the following titles:
    • If the Airplane is Snowed in, Put Your Bloody Skis on and Get Going!
    • Retribution Rumble of Revenge and Rumble to Remember
    • Beware of Barely Badd Blasts and/or Blood Brawls on the Beach
    • The International Invasion of the International Invaders
      • Later led to Son of... and Return of the Son of...
    • Laying in the Gutter, Looking at the Stars
  • The 12/04/2009 show featured what was called a "Memorial Comical WAVE - Lumberjack, Slow Motion, Wild Speed, No Megaphone, No Milk, No Knee, No Elbow Comical Death Match" in the main event.
  • The February 2011 Sportiva Entertainment Friday Pro Last Minute Shopping Before Imaike Pro Dayo Zeninshugo!! event.
  • DDT Who's Gonna Top? 2013 ~DDT48 General Election Last Polling Day~
  • July 19th, 2015. Aka 2CW We Booked This Show Because It Was Literally The Only Available Date For The Young Bucks. (the Bucks being the tag team champions, for context)
  • Pro Wrestling Zero 1 held an event called Cho Hanabi Fighting Winter Garden 2015 ~ Barbed Wire Electric Current Blast Bat Death Match.

    Radio: Or, The spoken word of the human voice transmitted miraculously upon the aether by the appropriate application of wireless emissions of suitable wavelength, to be received across great distances by a carefully calibrated apparatus 
  • Although the actual title is given as Punt and Dennis: It's Been A Bad Week, that comedy current-affairs show is often referred to by the title of its prize - The Worst Week of the Week Award, Awarded Weekly on a Week-by-Week Basis. Which is mentioned at the end of every round.
  • One episode of BBC radio comedy The Burkiss Way is usually referred to as "Lesson 45: Write Extremely Long Titles The Burkiss Way". The full title, given in the Radio Times, was "Lesson 45: Write Extremely Long Titles With Lots And Lots Of Words In, Like This, So That The Radio Times Will Have To Allot More Space Than The Measly Half A Centimetre Of Billing Space We Usually Get And At Least It'll Look A Bit More Prominent On The Page, Although Still Nowhere Near The 50 Column Inches They Give To The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy The Burkiss Way".

    Tabletop Games: Or, Games involving the manipulation of tangible objects such as paper cards, miniatures and dice, usually played atop a table by several persons (though the floor may be used if there is no table offering enough area) 
  • The grand-daddy of miniature wargaming, H. G. Wells's Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books..
  • In 2004, Wizards of the Coast released a satirical Magic: The Gathering expansion called Unhinged that included the card: Our Market Research Shows That Players Like Really Long Card Names So We Made This Card to Have the Absolute Longest Card Name Ever Elemental, or OMRSTPLRLCNSWMTCTHTALCNEE for short.
    • A couple of cards have flavour text attributed to Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, the Underworld Cookbook.
  • Though the Magic card mentioned above is part of a Humor expansion, the Mythos CCG had a card called "The Thirty-Five Abominable Adulations of the Bloated One". Since Mythos referred to the Cthulhu Mythos, long names seem appropriate.
  • Advanced Dimensional Green Ninja-Educational Preparatory Super-Elementary Fortress 555 is an RPG by Windmill Games where you play a bunch of superpowered elementary school students at the school of the same name.

    Theatre: Or, Works written with the intention of live performance in front of an audience upon the theatrical stage 
  • The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. In the original German, Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade, is a bit shorter. It's a play and a film, and it's pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
    • Publicists and playbill designers shortened this to Marat/Sade.
  • Perhaps not so long as most of these but still worthy of mention: The tragical history of the damned life and deserved death of Doctor Johanus Faustus.
    • And the one man show telling the same story, "An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening".
  • Arthur Kopit's Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad.
  • Most of William Shakespeare's works had really long titles in folio, octavo and quarto editions, which summarised most of the plot (and often ruined the ending).
    • The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift. [sic] (Henry IV Part Two)
    • The First part of the Contention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the death of the good Duke Humphrey, And the banishment and death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragicall end of the proud Cardinal of VVinchester, vvith the notable rebellion of Iacke Cade, And the Duke of Yorkes first claim vnto the Crowne. (Henry VI Part Two)
    • The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, and the death of good King Henrie the Sixth, with the Whole Contention betweene the two Houses Lancaster and Yorke; it was the earliest printed version of Henry VI Part 3.
  • The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel, which was also made into a movie. The play's title comes from the title of the protagonist's Science Fair project.
  • The History of Two Valiant Knights, Sir Clyomon Knight of the Golden Shield, Son to the King of Denmark, and Clamydes the White Knight, Son to the King of Suavia, a romantic comedy produced in London by the King's Men in 1577.
  • for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (1974).
  • Not as long as others on here, but A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is still a mouthful.
  • Just about any of the Farndale Avenue plays; a stand-out is They Came From Mars and Landed Outside the Farndale Avenue Church Hall in Time for the Townswomen’s Guild’s Coffee Morning.
  • How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, whose title song only includes the first three words.
  • Jackie Sibblies Drury's (deep breath) We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915.
  • Road House: The Stage Version Of The Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze, Except This One Stars Taimak From The 80’s Cult Classic "The Last Dragon" Wearing A Blonde Mullet Wig.
  • Comus: The full title is actually A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: on Michelmas night, before the Rt Hon. Iohn Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackly, Lord President of Wales, and one of His Maiesties most honorable privie councill (spelling is correct), but is more commonly called by the One-Word Title.
  • Jerker, or The Helping Hand: A Pornographic Elegy with Redeeming Social Value and a Hymn to the Queer Men of San Francisco in Twenty Telephone Calls, Many of Them Dirty commonly referred to just as Jerker.

    Theme Parks: Or, Places that exist in certain parts of the world that have a bunch of unique one-of-a-kind experiences; such as roller coasters, live shows, 3-D shows, dark rides, water flumes, walk-throughs, and plenty more 

    Visual Novels: Or, Somewhat Slow-paced Electronic Stories using the narrative style of Literature, but adding in Interactive Video Game-esque elements, which means the medium does not conformably fit into either definition and so as a result has to be sorted it into one of its own. 
  • Most installments in the Ace Attorney series fall under this out of necessity. The first game was titled Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney under the assumption that the series as a whole would be titled Phoenix Wright with the subtitle changing between games. When it became clear that Phoenix wouldn't be the main protagonist of the fourth game, the series was rebranded as Ace Attorney, which was originally the subtitle of the first game. Since then, the games have been titled in the format [Protagonist Name]: Ace Attorney: [Subtitle], e.g. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. Due to this length, each individual installment is usually referred to by its subtitle (or supertitle if there is no subtitle) or its initials. For instance, T&T refers to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations.
  • Christine Love has done this with don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story. Her later project Ladykiller in a Bind was originally titled My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!! during development.
  • The Japanese title of the sixth chapter of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc translates to "The Reason Super High School Level Bad Luck Enticed Super High School Level Murder and Super High School Level Execution and Super High School Level Despair". The English localisation shorts it to the somewhat more digestible "Ultimate Pain, Ultimate Suffering, Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Execution, Ultimate Death".

    Webcomics: Or, Stories available on the internet told through a mixture of sequential images and bubbles containing text, indicating what the characters are saying, thinking, and occasionally doing, much like a comic book but without commission. 

    Web Originals: Or, Various pieces of fiction falling under a variety of descriptions distinguished by their initial appearance on a network previously established to better facilitate the sharing of information between computers. 

    Western Animation: Or, Televisual performances produced throughout the Occident, mostly in the United States of America, made possible through the rapid display of slightly differing artistic renderings to create the illusion of movement 

    Other: Or, Honorable mentions arising from miscellaneous aesthetic productions that somehow elude veracious insertion underneath any of the aforementioned categorical heading 
  • Car names tend to be short and punchy, but for a few years in The '80s, Mazda put the full model designation ("Mazda 323 DX 1.6i", four separate badges each in a different font) all in one row on the trunk lid above the left taillight on some models. Depending on the size and positioning of the dealer's emblem, that could mean a row of plastic badges stretching all the way from the left edge of the trunk lid to the keyhole halfway across.
  • Although it's only mentioned on the "about" page, David Chess's blog is titled The Curvature of the Earth Is Overwhelmed by Local Noise.
  • A blog post at [1] has a new version of the bible called "New and Revised Standard Edition Version 13.75 for angsty and rebellious emo faggots who have nothing better to do than blindly take shots at things that they're too stupid to understand and too anal-retentive to actually notice the point of the message." or the NRSEv13.75fAaREFwhNBtdtBTSaTtttStUatA-RtANtPotM for short
  • Apple products don't have model numbers, so they get names like "Power Macintosh G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors)" and "MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)".
  • The instruction manual for the Kymera Remote Control Wand, which admittedly looks and performs like a real magic wand, and thus has this thematically-inspired reference.
  • For a time during the 19th century, The Economist's full title was The Economist, Weekly Commercial Times, Bankers' Gazette, and Railway Monitor. A Political, Literary and General Newspaper.
  • Many scientific articles have long and highly-detailed titles to ensure that peers parsing the articles and later archives can locate relevant material easily.
    • This is especially true for articles dealing with focused case studies where the specific details of the case can increase title length greatly. For example: "Cluster randomized controlled trial of a psycho-educational intervention for people with a family history of depression for use in general practice".
    • There are many quite charming ones from the 19th century. "Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, during the years 1843–46; emplyed surverying the islands of the Eastern Archipelago; accompanied by a brief vocabulary of the prinicipal languages … With notes on the natural history of the islands by Arthur Adams." and "Narrative of the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly, commanded by Captain F.P. Blackwood, R.N. in Torres Strait, New Guinea, and other Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, during the years 1842-1846: together with an excursion into the interior of the eastern part of Java.". Riveting stuff.
  • A trope is named Either "World Domination", or Something About Bananas. An article is titled Recap/My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S2 E15: "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000".
  • In 1976, a shipment of clacker balls in Wisconsin was seized by U.S. Marshals citing the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, since the toys could potentially harm children, and sought an order to have it destroyed. The Ace Novelty Company in Washington state disputed this, and it was taken in court in a case filed as United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls. Yes, that's the real name of the case. Yes, it does look like the United States actually sued a bunch of cardboard boxes.note  Yes, the United States won the case.
  • Legislation often has ostentatiously long names in order to make the bill in question sound as attractive as possible. For example the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001", better known as the USA PATRIOT Act.
  • A law in Japan is titled Act on Prohibition of Flight of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the Surrounding Areas of the National Assembly Building, the Prime Minister's Office, Other Important Facilities of the State, Foreign Missions, and Nuclear Power Plant, etc. (国会議事堂、内閣総理大臣官邸その他の国の重要な施設等、外国公館等及び原子力事業所の周辺地域の上空における小型無人機等の飛行の禁止に関する法律, Kokkai gijidō, Naikaku-Sōridaijin kantei sonohoka no Kuni no Jūyōna shisetsu-tō, Gaikoku Kōkan-tō oyobi Genshiryoku jigyōsho no shūhen chiiki no jōkū ni okeru kogata mujin-ki-tō no hikō no kinshi ni kansuru hōritsu). Often referred to as "Drone Prohibition Law".
See also The Stinger AKA The Trope That Always Ends Any Kind of Trope Imaginable, So That You Would Check Everything that ends with a Stinger, So Good Luck!
 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Chowder: Big Ball

Big Ball is otherwise known as "Field Tournament Style Up and Down on the Ground Manja Flanja Blanja Banja Ishka Bibble-Babble Flabble Doma Roma Floma Boma Jingle Jangle Every Angle Bricka Bracka Flacka Stacka Two Ton Re-Run Free For All Big Ball".

Alternative Title(s): Overly Long Title

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Reviews Live Blogs Go Ad Free!

Crucial Browsing

Community Showcase More

Top

Chowder: Big Ball

Big Ball is otherwise known as "Field Tournament Style Up and Down on the Ground Manja Flanja Blanja Banja Ishka Bibble-Babble Flabble Doma Roma Floma Boma Jingle Jangle Every Angle Bricka Bracka Flacka Stacka Two Ton Re-Run Free For All Big Ball".

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

Example of:

Main / LongTitle

Media sources:

Main / LongTitle

Report