THE BREACH (September 9, 2014)
Each and every piece of my writing has a different title. That has been a policy of mine from the very beginning. With more than fifteen-thousand pieces of writing, this is not as easy as it seems. Before deciding on a title, I go through the directory of all of my writings. This is what I did a short while ago, when I was completing the previous piece. But I ran into a surprising snag. The phrase “monkey business” can be found in no less than three titles of my pieces. The first one, in which I quote Vladimir Voinovich, one of my favorite Soviet dissidents, is dated March 4, 1990. The expression is without quotes. The second, in which I quote my beloved, is dated November 11, 2009. This time around, the expression is within quotes, which makes it different from the first title. The third one, in which I quote The Financial Times, bears today’s date. And the title is within quotes once again, as I am quoting the newspaper title. The expression “monkey business” thus appears twice within quotes. The trouble is that there is no way around my policy of putting a newspaper title into quotes whenever I am referring to an article and starting my commentary with “thus.” In short, I am facing a situation in which two of my policies concerning titles collide. After much grinding of teeth, I decided to live with two identical titles in my magnum opus. But I also decided to trumpet the breach far and wide.