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Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

inference-review.com

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Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#11

Post by freehunter »

dbranes wrote: post #5
mattkrause wrote: post #4

The title here is absolutely useless. For those who are curious, the article is a biography of Alexander Grothendieck, a mathematician.

No we should not suffix the name of every person in post titles with their occupation. Grothendieck is one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. This is like demanding clarifications like "this article is about Mark Zuckerburg, a CEO"

When I read the title, I assume Grothendieck is a country. You know, because it says "Grothendieck is a country". So maybe you don't need to say "Grothendieck, the mathematician", but the title is specifically going out of its way to be as unclear as possible.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#12

Post by klipt »

mathgenius wrote: post #9
a3_nm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you know who Gronthendieck is, the title is surprisingly unhelpful.

The title invoked in me a state of mystery, which is perhaps exactly the right way to approach this subject.

As does all clickbait. "You won't believe what happens next!" "Doctors hate her!" Ooh, mysterious, why do doctors hate her?

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#13

Post by dbranes »

a3_nm wrote: post #6
dbranes wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No we should not suffix the name of every person in post titles with their occupation. Grothendieck is one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. This is like demanding clarifications like "this article is about Mark Zuckerburg, a CEO"

Even if you know who Gronthendieck is, the title is surprisingly unhelpful.

It's literally word for word the title of the linked article, which makes it a reasonable choice for a title, no?

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#14

Post by ryanx435 »

dbranes wrote: post #13
a3_nm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you know who Gronthendieck is, the title is surprisingly unhelpful.

It's literally word for word the title of the linked article, which makes it a reasonable choice for a title, no?

You can tell it's a terrible title because the only comments are discussing the title and not the content of the article

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#15

Post by PhasmaFelis »

dbranes wrote: post #13
a3_nm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you know who Gronthendieck is, the title is surprisingly unhelpful.

It's literally word for word the title of the linked article, which makes it a reasonable choice for a title, no?

Not necessarily, since the internet is notorious for producing awful article titles. (Although usually they're deliberate clickbait rather than this sort of obscureness.) I believe HN's policy is to change the title if it's confusing or inaccurate.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#16

Post by PhasmaFelis »

dbranes wrote: post #5
mattkrause wrote: post #4

The title here is absolutely useless. For those who are curious, the article is a biography of Alexander Grothendieck, a mathematician.

No we should not suffix the name of every person in post titles with their occupation. Grothendieck is one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. This is like demanding clarifications like "this article is about Mark Zuckerburg, a CEO"

Being an influential mathematician doesn't really put you high on most people's awareness.

But you're misstating the problem. If the title had been "A country of which nothing is known but the name Obama", I would still have assumed that it was about a little-known historical nation that happened to share a name with the last US president. It's just a really weird, confusing title.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#17

Post by jholman »

mattkrause wrote: post #4

The title here is absolutely useless. For those who are curious, the article is a biography of Alexander Grothendieck, a mathematician.

Those of you who complain about the title... I can only wonder if you have any poetry in your souls.

Yes, it helps to know that Grothendieck was a big-deal mathematician ("considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th century").

But what, did you think that "No Country For Old Men" was going to be about geriatrics without passports?

When people quote Hartley's "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there", do you go looking for "Yesterday" in an atlas?

Closer to home, after I read Yegge's Execution In The Kingdom Of Nouns I tried to book a vacation there, but the travel agent made fun of me.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#18

Post by _ah »

klipt wrote: post #12
mathgenius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The title invoked in me a state of mystery, which is perhaps exactly the right way to approach this subject.

As does all clickbait. "You won't believe what happens next!" "Doctors hate her!" Ooh, mysterious, why do doctors hate her?

She was shocked. It's an easy trick, discovered by a mom.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#19

Post by nextlevelwizard »

jholman wrote: post #17
mattkrause wrote: post #4

The title here is absolutely useless. For those who are curious, the article is a biography of Alexander Grothendieck, a mathematician.

Those of you who complain about the title... I can only wonder if you have any poetry in your souls. Yes, it helps to know that Grothendieck was a big-deal mathematician ("considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th century"). But what, did you think that "No Country For Old Men" was going to be about geriatrics without passports? When people quote Hartley's "The past is a foreign country, they do…

Or maybe, just maybe, it could have been about some actual forgotten country where only name of a city or something survived?

Obviously you can use whatever title you want and be as poetic as you like, but at least in my mind I was going to a very different place than "mathematician".

As for your examples, they don't really fit, since we have way more context about them. If you are going to see a movie with a title "No country for old men", you can be pretty sure that the title wont be literal (unless it's an comedy movie, in which case it might be). As for the quote, most people get that "past" is past and not some place and certainly they are not going to start looking for "yesterday" like you suggest, that's just stupid of you to even suggest. Anyone who is aware that "yesterday" is part of "past" already knows what you are talking about. However most people do not know who or even what Grothendieck, to me it doesn't even seem like a name of a person, but that's just me.

EDIT: You can downvote me all you want, but unless you can come up with coherent response, please think twice why you are downvoting.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck: A Country Known Only by Name

#20

Post by nextlevelwizard »

dbranes wrote: post #5
mattkrause wrote: post #4

The title here is absolutely useless. For those who are curious, the article is a biography of Alexander Grothendieck, a mathematician.

No we should not suffix the name of every person in post titles with their occupation. Grothendieck is one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. This is like demanding clarifications like "this article is about Mark Zuckerburg, a CEO"

I literally couldn't tell you even what part of the field he was involved with or when.

Although I could tell you that Zuckerburg made Facebook.

Just because you know something doesn't mean it's common knowledge (or that other people will even care)

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