The purpose of the series of articles called Stupid Tip of the Day is to offer advice which is so well hidden in plain sight that it may seem too obvious to impart and that everyone probably knows about it, leading the person giving the advice to think that someone else might think it is actually stupid — and have second thoughts about giving it after all…
Renaming the Stupid Tip of the Day Series: Your Thoughts Requested
…but some readers of The Gate have misinterpreted the meaning of Stupid Tip of the Day — and understandably so.
For example, in response to this article pertaining to taking empty water bottles through airport security checkpoints which I wrote on Saturday, June 13, 2015, colleen — who is a reader of The Gate — commented that “I may have read this blog title wrong. It seems like you’re trying to label this as a really easy tip to follow. Instead, the title reads like you’re calling Keri stupid. She’s not.”
Responding to that same article, Joey suggested, “Why not call it ‘Smart tip of the Day’ then to prevent any misinterpretations?”
Other names which have been suggested over the years include Not-So-Obvious Tip of the Day — although I would prefer to have a shorter name — and Basic Tip of the Day.
In this article pertaining to taking care not to get locked out on your hotel room balcony — especially while naked, I asked for suggestions in changing the name of the Stupid Tip of the Day series. That article was written on Thursday, June 25, 2015, so I have been thinking about changing the name of the series for greater than four years — and I am still considering it…
…but I have not thought of a better name for a series of articles with tips which would seem so obvious to some people to the point where a person might consider it stupid for being so obvious: “Come on now, Brian — everyone knew that!” — and yet there would be other people who that tip would help, not realizing that it existed: “Wow — I had never thought of that. Thank you!”
This comes at a time when I am thinking about better organizing the information provided by articles posted here at The Gate; and I have been thinking about an article compiling a list of all of the articles which are part of the Stupid Tip of the Day series for easier access to them.
Summary
One reason I am hesitant to change the name of the Stupid Tip of the Day series of articles is that they have been popular in general — but perhaps they could become even more popular with an improved name.
Please post your suggestions in the Comments section below. Thank you in advance.
Photograph ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
