NOT FAIR. I got my sci-fi paper back today (B+, rather disappointing), only to find that after wrestling with myself, absolutely refusing to let myself use a pun in the title of my sci-fi paper, MY TA SUGGESTS THE SAME PUN in the margins.
I wrote about empathy for alien invaders in War of the Worlds, Ender’s Game, and the Doctor Who episode “Dalek,” eventually settling on “The Devil’s Advocates.” Sure, if I were a TA and my student had titled her paper “Empathy for the Devil” I would have given her extra points, but I couldn’t be sure my TA wouldn’t do the opposite, so I went the safe, punless route. I can’t believe I could have gotten away with that!