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We’re working on a book about the origins of, oh, just about everything, and we need your help. Specifically, we don’t know what to call it. And since you’ve proven so handy with naming Element 118 (we only need eight more signatures before we can send our petition to the lab!), we thought you’d be able to come up with a snappy title for this, too. Want some examples of the kind of stuff you’ll find inside?
- There probably wasn’t any turkey served at the first Thanksgiving — although the Pilgrims and Wampanoag did polish off a lot of lobster and five whole deer.
- Sudoku isn’t Japanese. Originally called “Latin Squares,” it’s actually Swiss.
- The full Brazilian bikini wax started life as a Muslim wedding tradition.
- The disco ball predates disco. (Look closely at the nightclub scenes in the 1927 silent film Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, and you’ll spot a mirrored orb hanging from the ceiling.)
- Bubble wrap was born out of an ill-fated attempt to make plastic wallpaper.
- The inventor of the bra was not Otto Titzling — she was far more scandalous than that.
And there are 300 more pages where that came from. So, your turn — what do we call them? “In the Beginning?” “Origins?” Please, please, vote on these two options in the comments — and there’s a big fat thank-you in the acknowledgements of the book for the person who comes up with something better.
Of the two choices, I’d vote for “In The Beginning”.
My suggestion is “Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Everything”.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 10-23-2006 at 5:19 pm
And then there was Floss!
or
The 8th Day
posted by mark palamarchuck on 10-23-2006 at 5:42 pm
Hmm. A book correcting misses in thoughts on the origens of things.
Maybe a play on “genesis” like “genemiss” or “Ge_ne_miss.”
Another along the lines of an alternate to the common origen thought is “Or_igens.”
posted by john on 10-23-2006 at 5:45 pm
Whoops, mispelled “origin.” I meant “Or_igins.”
posted by john on 10-23-2006 at 5:47 pm
Hidden Foundations
posted by john on 10-23-2006 at 5:58 pm
I like “Origins”, although some word play on “The Origin of Species” might work well. Maybe “The Origin of Tepees”.
posted by Rob on 10-23-2006 at 5:58 pm
I would vote for “In the Beginning”. Otherwise, my suggestion is something along the lines of “The Substratum of the Aggregate Myths, Legends, and Farces of the World”
posted by Ian on 10-23-2006 at 6:00 pm
“Fountainheads”.
More fun than the other two.
posted by Johnny Cat on 10-23-2006 at 6:22 pm
My idea for the title is “…and you thought you knew!”
posted by Steve S on 10-23-2006 at 6:25 pm
I liked your original name (even though you weren’t offering it as a name)…..
“The origins of just about everything”
posted by Deb on 10-23-2006 at 6:35 pm
“Amalgam” ” Mental Amalgam” or “Amalgam Nation”
posted by Larry R on 10-23-2006 at 6:47 pm
“Once upon a time…”
posted by Adrienne on 10-23-2006 at 8:13 pm
How about ‘GENIUS-sES’ as in Genius Genesis
posted by Jane Martin on 10-23-2006 at 8:18 pm
“In the Beginning…: a Big Book of Begginings”
posted by Rachel on 10-23-2006 at 8:47 pm
“Primordial Soup”
“Everything you learning in Kindergarden is wrong”
“Who’s your daddy?” (sorry, couldn’t resist)
posted by Sara Rosehill on 10-23-2006 at 8:47 pm
Here’s a few candidates to throw into the mix:
- Original Origins
- The Mythical Originals
- The One but not the Only
- ONE - Original Notions Exposed
- Origani - Busting the Mythical Originals
- The Very, Very First One, or the Second
- Origin of the Feces
- First Place, Wrong Race
posted by Alan on 10-23-2006 at 9:02 pm
What’s wrong with Mental Floss: The Origin of Just About Everything
posted by mercurial scribe on 10-23-2006 at 10:16 pm
“Which Came First: the Chicken or the Egg? (Subtitle) The True Origins of Various Things”
posted by Charlie Haley on 10-23-2006 at 10:56 pm
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg? (Subtitle) The True Origin of Various Things.”
posted by Charlie on 10-23-2006 at 11:00 pm
How about
“Origins: Facts too crazy to have been made up”
posted by Anthony on 10-23-2006 at 11:05 pm
How about “The Spermologist’s Dream” (Everything you wanted to but don’t really need to know)
posted by susan on 10-23-2006 at 11:07 pm
“The Beginning was Mental”
I like “The Substratum of the Aggregate Myths, Legends, and Farces of the World” as a subtitle
posted by Lorraine B. on 10-23-2006 at 11:30 pm
Things you didn’t know you didn’t know
A thing or two you thought you knew
Not quite…
Lost in translation
Who Knew II
And you believed them?
posted by Tom Lee on 10-23-2006 at 11:55 pm
My suggestion is “Starters”
Of the other two: In the Beginning
posted by Jill Mayre on 10-24-2006 at 12:35 am
“Humble (Or Not So Humble) Beginnings”
or just plain “Humble Beginnings.”
“You’re Kidding Me…”
[Or something like “You Gotta Be Kidding…”, “Are You Sure?”, etc.]
They’re not great but they’re all I’ve got…
:)
posted by Jeremy on 10-24-2006 at 1:44 am
“That’s not how it happened”
posted by Karah on 10-24-2006 at 3:17 am
Darwin’s Daunting Dawning
posted by Heather on 10-24-2006 at 3:18 am
“Smart Starts”
“Trivial Beginings”
“The Birth of a Notion”
posted by Ann S. on 10-24-2006 at 3:32 am
Provenance
posted by Andrew Green on 10-24-2006 at 3:58 am
what about “EUREKA!” which accgd. wikepedia means “to celebrate a discovery”, (whether a major scientific truth or something as minor as the finding of a lost item).
posted by anne g. on 10-24-2006 at 4:05 am
what about “EUREKA!” which accgd. to wikepedia means “to celebrate a discovery”, (whether a major scientific truth or something as minor as the finding of a lost item).
posted by anne g. on 10-24-2006 at 4:05 am
I like In the Beginning, but I also think you need to be a little more out there to preserve your reputation. How about “Floss Residue” or “Sta-uff”
posted by J.L. on 10-24-2006 at 7:36 am
A little late to the party but may I suggest:
“False Starts”
“Original Sins”
“Beginner’s Yuck”
“Floundering Foundings”
or any combination of two, like…
“False Starts and Original Sins”,
“Beginners Yuck and Floundering Foundings”
or maybe
“The First Steps Are Always the Funniest”
or “Myth-Placed Origins”
or straightforwardly “The Greatest Origin Stories Ever Mistold”
Depends on what you want to focus on…
I keep going back to “False Starts and Original Sins”…
posted by Wendell Wittler on 10-24-2006 at 7:55 am
“Origins
or
How things came to be that which people think they ought to have been but actually weren’t until they were”
posted by Norm on 10-24-2006 at 8:22 am
“The Pilgrims ate Lobster” subtitled something like “and other facts you thought you knew but didn’t”. Picture on the front cover = B52’s singing _Rock Lobster_
posted by KJ on 10-24-2006 at 9:08 am
Mental Floss’ The Origin of Specious… Information (or Trivia, or Facts)
posted by Joe on 10-24-2006 at 9:30 am
The Big Book of Useless Imformation
How’d That Begin???
Learn Something New Everyday
posted by Kim on 10-24-2006 at 10:19 am
I’ve got it!
Square One: the evolution and/or intelligent design of just about everything.
posted by Danny Thompson on 10-24-2006 at 10:38 am
How about:
No… But I Did Sleep At A Holiday Inn Last Night…
posted by Sara on 10-24-2006 at 10:46 am
“Start Over”
“Improbable Origins”
“Firsts”
posted by Jason! on 10-24-2006 at 10:55 am
If at first you don’t succeed,
Lie about it!
posted by alan on 10-24-2006 at 11:11 am
Hinsidestory
Natal Attraction
Natal Errors
posted by john on 10-24-2006 at 12:15 pm
The Secret Origins of Almost Everything
posted by David Webb on 10-24-2006 at 1:33 pm
“Origins, Schmorigins”
posted by Drew on 10-24-2006 at 3:16 pm
“Origins, Schmorigins” or should that be “Shmorigins”?
posted by Drew on 10-24-2006 at 3:17 pm
“Baby Pilgrims” (no, I don’t get this, either.)
“Mental Floss: Act I”
“Saving Latin”
“Plastic Wallpaper - And Other Beginnings”
“Original Floss”
“Introducing… Inventions You Know And Love–And The Origins You Didn’t Know (But Probably Will Love)”
“The Untold Stories Of Your Favorite Inventions”
“One-Celled Origins”
“In The Beginning, There Was Floss”
“The Best Byproducts Of Failure”
“Genesis Gets Sidetracked”
“Before There Were Disco Balls…”
I could keep coming up with them, but I’ve got work to do.
posted by Sillstaw on 10-24-2006 at 3:38 pm
ab initio
you had to be there
CTPB (contrary to popular belief)
the unbeknownst
instigations
W4-where we went wrong
it all depends…
information or backformation?
disguise, lies and alibis
posted by Tom on 10-24-2006 at 4:54 pm
Howz abouts : “In the Beginning, there was Something” a play on the bible’s “In the beginning there was nothing” (a statement I’ve always been a bit skeptical about)
posted by Jackie on 10-25-2006 at 11:11 am
“A is for Aha!”
“A is for Origins”
“α Bits”
Of your two original suggestions, I like “In The Beginning…” best, but with the added ellipse.
posted by OwenKL on 10-25-2006 at 9:46 pm