Call over the Potboy

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
nylazor
mylordshesacactus

I read etiquette and homemaking guides from the 1800s mostly because they're a FASCINATING insight into cultural norms that we often don't think about. I honestly really recommend people crack one of these open at least once--it goes way beyond, like, "what to wear to a ball!!!"

The best ones have advice on decor, how to select high-quality furniture, childrearing, fashion, etc--from a contemporary perspective, and the things the authors feel the need to clarify vs the wild shit that will just casually mention like it's something everyone knows and agrees on is REALLY revealing of the culture and how it's shifted.

And while a lot of the advice is WILDLY bigoted or just outright funny, you'd be surprised how much of it is...just genuinely timeless, and shockingly compassionate.

They ALSO, as a writer, have INVALUABLE resources--because, again, they're talking about things that are so MUNDANE that a lot of the time nobody really sat down to formally document what normal, everyday people thought or cared about--because that's boring! But a book written to provide advice and information to, say, a young woman who's never run her own home before? You can fully expect an entire chapter dedicated to The Types Of Oven, and which features are useful and worth spending money on, and which features are a huge hassle to clean and a waste of space, and what to spend that money on instead.

Heading: Occupations of the People of the United States During 1870-1880ALT
Heading: Expense of Board Per DayALT
Heading: Facts Concerning Money, Military Matters, Interest, and the Most Valuable MetalsALT
Heading: Insignia of Military RankALT
image

And like. As a writer who frequently works in the 1800s? Fuck inflation calculators, this is the kind of thing I need. This is absolutely priceless.

Now that being said.

My current favorite 'etiquette guide' in the world is actually like....70% purely practical advice, written by a gentleman the groupchat has affectionately dubbed History's Most Autistic Man In The World, and thank god they didn't have Aderall back then

Because the AuDHD is strong in this one and as a result, in addition to the deeply practical and useful everyday reference points, we also have:

Heading: Time In Which Food Digests In Hours And MinutesALT
Heading: Several Of The Highest Mountains In Asia And AfricaALT
Heading: Amount Of Oil In SeedsALT
ariaste
erotically-co-dependent

won’t yap about this a lot, but I don’t like DNIs. I think they’re ridiculously childish. If you want to block me, you have every right and if my content upsets you, I genuinely encourage you to hit that block button. block me, block the tags you don’t like, whatever you need.

but it’s your job to control your experience on the internet, not mine. and I am not taking the time to check your pinned or bio before I like some post that came across my dash. who cares.

sam7sparks7
8nin

the tragedy of tumblr is you will inevitably meet people who you should be having a sleepover with. you should be rolling around on their floor and rummaging through their fridge and watching shitty movies with. you should be shopping with should be going out to a cafe with should be wandering through the aquarium with. people who you should be experiencing quotidian joys with... and you cannot! because they live one million miles away