"Jumping the rope is not good exercise, for it jars the body too much"

September 14, 2012 8:50 AM

Obsolessons: selected passages from the self-help and guide books of the past. [via mefi projects]
posted by The Whelk (17 comments total)

Mildly amusing. Some of it is still good advice. With some, it's nice to be reminded that "things" can change astoundingly in fairly short amounts of time.
posted by Goofyy at 9:10 AM on September 14, 2012

HOW ARE DRUNKARDS MADE = HOW LADDY GET PRAEGNENT
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:12 AM on September 14, 2012

Not sure I can disagree that jumping the rope is bad for you, but I am disappointed that curvaceous women have intestines in their hips.
posted by DU at 9:13 AM on September 14, 2012

A little boy was once covered with gold-leaf to represent an angel in a festival. This kept the perspiration from leaving his body, and he died in a few hours.

Not unexpected.
posted by griphus at 9:16 AM on September 14, 2012

Oh and on the not making the bed: waaaaay ahead of you.
posted by DU at 9:16 AM on September 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Question. I’ve been told that those long-drawn-out kisses
longer even than those you see in the movies, can cause a girl to have a baby. Is that true?

Answer. No, except that such kisses may excite the boy and the girl and lead them to do other things that may end up with the girl’s having a baby!

Security through obscurity is no security at all.
posted by griphus at 9:26 AM on September 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

DU - i think that was showing that corsets are bad because they displace organs. the original caption on the drawing mentions tight lacing.
posted by sio42 at 9:56 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I fail to see how a drawing of a skull is EVER obsolete. Children will be well-educated by diagrams of skulls for years to come, and one day I hope to see guide books which educate children as to the betterment of their behavior *entirely* through skull illustration.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:36 AM on September 14, 2012

It's "interesting" to see that the use of "scare quote" has a long "pedigree", at least in the "advice columns" one "encounters" in the "popular press".
 
posted by Herodios at 11:05 AM on September 14, 2012

Also: tell me more of this "nervous power".

Must I become a Rosicrucian to possess it?
 
posted by Herodios at 11:24 AM on September 14, 2012

I'm pleased for the mefite that made this site, but I found it kind of tough to read. Too busy, and too many italics.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:22 PM on September 14, 2012

I liked the "airing the bed" on. I remember reading Home Comforts some years ago, and the author talking about how one of her grandmothers believed in making the bed as soon as a person got up, and the other believed in airing it. I'd never heard of airing it. It made sense to me--I thought of all the trapped body odors, for instance. We make our bed every morning first thing, though, because we have so many cats who will drop hairs and track bits of dirt in all day.
posted by not that girl at 3:22 PM on September 14, 2012

can you imagine getting to a point in your life where you seriously read a self-help book, because i can't
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 5:05 PM on September 14, 2012

>can you imagine getting to a point in your life where you seriously read a self-help book, because i can't<

I am now, aren't I? Isn't that what the blue is for?

(it is either that or self-immolation, has to be)
posted by twidget at 5:20 PM on September 14, 2012

My headmaster told my class that story about the golden cherub, ooh, forty-some years ago. I wonder how old it is?
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:50 AM on September 15, 2012

can you imagine getting to a point in your life where you seriously read a self-help book, because i can't

The Feeling Good Handbook and the Gift of Fear are pretty popular self-help books that are regularly suggested in Ask MetaFilter. I've personally gotten some benefit from Surviving a Borderline Parent. I think some of it depends on how narrowly you define self-help. There are an awful lot of people who enjoy things like Miss Manners books to help them codify a set of etiquette rules they can often only guess at, and What Not to Wear is helpful for people along these same line. Dale Carnegie's books are suggested for people who want to learn how to talk to strangers and get along with them.

the thing about self help books is that, frequently, anyone can write them and they are as much a product of their time as many other popular books of the day (and some of them aren't even popular!). See also: fashion. I enjoyed seeing this blog when it started up and I like what it's turning into.
posted by jessamyn at 11:16 AM on September 29, 2012

Don't forget Carr's Stop Smoking book.
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on September 29, 2012