: Re: Is it a bad idea to use a culture-specific word in the title of a story? I wrote a short story long ago called The End of the World. I thought the title was too common so I renamed it

@Sent2472441

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I think a title has two purposes: to get the attention of the potential reader, and to give him a clue what the story is about.

Putting a foreign word or a word that is likely to be unfamiliar to most potential readers can attract attention. A natural response is, "What does that mean?", which may get them to look for more information.

If the potential reader doesn't know the word than it can't convey a lot of information to him, but if he can at least guess at the language or the field the word comes from, it still conveys something.

Let's look at your example, "The Kid With the Gigaku Mask". My immediate thoughts are: "gigaku" sounds Japanese or Korean or maybe some other culture from that part of the world. So I guess the story has something to do with Japanese (or whatever) culture. I don't know if "mask" in this context is referring to a mask that might be worn in some traditional theater, or something used in religious or mystical ceremonies, or perhaps something related to some sort of holiday celebration. I'm sure there are other possibilities. "Kid" in the title leads me to believe that it is a story for children. (Of course not all stories with children as main characters are intended to be read by children, but they usually are.)

If you keep the "and the end of the world", then I suppose that the story is fantasy or science fiction. With the reference to the mask, I'd guess some sort of fantasy.

Of course others may not have exactly the same thoughts I do, but I think what I just outlined is what many would assume. If that's right, than cool. If not, you may want to rethink that title some.

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