def METHOD_NAME(name, fallback=True):
    """Returns the title of the specified snippet or the empty string.
    If fallback, returns a shortened display of the text if no title is
    available.
    """
    s = settings()
    METHOD_NAME = s.value(name+"/title")
    if METHOD_NAME:
        return METHOD_NAME
    try:
        t = builtin_snippets[name]
    except KeyError:
        pass
    else:
        if t.METHOD_NAME:
            return t.METHOD_NAME()   # call to translate
    if fallback:
        # no title found, send shorttext instead
        return shorttext(name)