Name that blog

August 22, 2012 5:14 PM

Starting a blog that shares snippets of advice from old books. Help us name it, please.

A couple of friends and I are starting a blog that will share snippets of advice from various books we find at thrift stores and estate sales. We're talking things like guides for pregnant women from the 1920s, or "hygiene" pointers for turn of the century boys. Help me brainstorm blog titles, please. I'm looking for something that conveys the idea of "those wacky people from the past and their terrible advice" a la Grandpa Simpson's claim that wearing an onion in his belt "was the style at the time."

posted by MsMolly to grab bag (26 answers total)

Tales of boredom and irrelevancy
posted by Kruger5 at 5:17 PM on August 22, 2012

"This, too, has past." Or "This, too, has passed."

I am not clear which is better but I think I like the first version better. It evokes that phrase people use "This, too, shall pass" which is intended to help you get through something stupid, maddening, or difficult yet it indicates it is in the past. I think I like the first one better because it sounds like the past tense of "shall pass" but it more literally means that it has history. I think that is more fitting.

Shoot me a memail when you get it running. I wanna see. :-)

Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 5:31 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Vintage Questionable Advice Home Companion, Being for the Edification and Enjoyment of Today's Young Readers: A Compendium of Unhelpful Self-Help From Long Ago
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:33 PM on August 22, 2012 [10 favorites]

You might face some competition from Questionable Advice.
posted by jeudi at 5:34 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about shorten MonkeyToes' idea to Unhelpful Self-Help, then use the full name per Monkeytoes if you're so inclined?
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2012

"I'm Surprised We've Lived This Long"
posted by unixrat at 5:45 PM on August 22, 2012

Strange Counsel of Other Days
Misadventures in Mutual Aid
Agony Aunts Gone Wrong
Awful Advice from Agony Aunts
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:49 PM on August 22, 2012

Obsolessons
posted by argonauta at 5:50 PM on August 22, 2012 [23 favorites]

Retro Counsel: A Series of Unfortunate Advice
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:55 PM on August 22, 2012

Please, please post this to Projects when you get it going. And MeMail me - this is one of my used-bookstore obsessions too - would love to share a few.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:36 PM on August 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Since You Asked...
posted by firstdrop at 6:43 PM on August 22, 2012

Miscellanea.
posted by samofidelis at 7:43 PM on August 22, 2012

Missed Manners?
posted by radioamy at 8:40 PM on August 22, 2012

In My Day, or some variation thereof.
posted by Lorin at 9:03 PM on August 22, 2012

Name it after something you find in one of the books. Seriously. The title you need - a chapter heading, a particularly ridiculous turn of phrase, a hilariously obsolete 1920s popcult reference - is already in the room with you right now.
posted by mediareport at 9:12 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Errata Grata
posted by Graygorey at 9:20 PM on August 22, 2012

Obsolessons is pretty fantastic, but if you're looking for something else, "Back in my day…"
posted by adamrice at 9:39 PM on August 22, 2012

Aunt Harriet's Compleat Guide to Comportment and Collected Advice to the Young People of Today
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:48 AM on August 23, 2012

Find a pithy and interesting or amusing piece of advice. Name your blog after that. I.e.

- "Bad dinners go hand in hand with depravity"
- "Colored silks should be washed in gasoline"
- "Cold water causes baldness"
- "Many a strange dish masquerades under the name of salad"
posted by MuffinMan at 2:10 AM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

"You know what your problem is?"
posted by 8dot3 at 6:39 AM on August 23, 2012

I think your Simpsons idea was right: Onions on our belts
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 6:59 AM on August 23, 2012

"When I was your age..."
posted by CathyG at 8:09 AM on August 23, 2012

A good idea at the time

various books we find at thrift stores and estate sales.

Slightly off topic, but for source material, you can get a whole lot of good from google books.

As an example, these results come from entering "advice" and narrowing the publication dates to the nineteenth century (I particularly like the advice for choosing cigars.)

(Also, perhaps one time in ten, it might be generous to throw in some old advice that still makes sense but has been forgotten. After all, they're going to be pretty horrified a hundred years from now at some of the stuff we take as gospel.)
posted by BWA at 8:14 AM on August 23, 2012

You guys are brilliant! I think we're going with a combination of two suggestions and calling it Obsolessons: A Compendium of Unhelpful Self Help. I'll definitely post it to Projects once we've got some content up. And we'll definitely be posting stuff from Google Books and the Internet Archive too, considering two of us are digital librarians. :)
posted by MsMolly at 8:35 AM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

Giving people a way to submit their own content to you might be good, too - I know I have a few things on my bookshelves that are now in the public domain that would be perfect for this (including the Better Living Booklets, my favorite of which is "When children start dating").
posted by k8lin at 4:59 PM on August 23, 2012

The blog is up and listed in MeFi Projects for those of you who are interested. Thanks again for such great naming help!
posted by MsMolly at 2:03 PM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]