This is not an advice column
There are plenty of those out there.
Ann Landers, Dear Abby, Ask Him Anything in Cosmo and this feature in Esquire are just a few examples.
The Onion even offers an advice column, though I'm not sure how practical the advice really is.
In movies and in TV shows, I've seen the joke all too often from a someone who reads an advice column, tries said technique/idea/new fun way of manipulation, and hilarity ensues.
A friend of mine in college was actually the subject of a letter written in to the local independent paper by his then-girlfriend, who caught him in the act with her roommate. He was super rich, and I think the subject of her letter was whether they should stay together because of his potential. The column didn't really offer any sound advice, but the two broke up anyway.
We still framed the article for him and hung it up in his house.
Generally, most advice columns seem geared more to giving out food for thought than actual paths of operation. Kind of like horoscopes, they serve more as entertainment than anything.
Sometimes I've found the advice useful, like that thing that I read once about the thing to try in the bedroom. That worked. I think. Or that time ... well, that's about it, really.
Still, I check out the Esquire feature, and the letters section in Playboy occasionally (which does have good articles, really). Overall, I dislike the advice columns for anything other than entertainment. If you need advice that badly, then get better friends.
What ones do you read? Have you ever written in to an advice column or been the subjects of someone else's letter? Gotten a response? Have you gained any useful know-how from them in mags or online? Or are they just entertainment?
Comments (4)
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I have never written in to an advice column, but I do enjoy reading them for entertainment. I once went to a "psychic" for fun, and she provided me with some love advice about the guy I was seeing at the time. It wasn't positive, and I ignored it, and it ended up being spot on. Spooky.
Posted on October 17, 2007 10:13 PM
So Roxie, you're saying that it's better to trust the local palm reader than Ann Landers?
I can buy that.
A girl once read my palm at a party a few years ago, and she said my love line was long, but my money line was short. I think that meant that I'd be broke, but happy. That's about right.
Anyone else out there seen a soothsayer before?
Posted on October 18, 2007 9:34 AM
I've never been to a palm reader, but I read advice columns obsessively and seem to constantly be drafting letters in my head to the columnists.
I never get up the guts to actually write in, though.
Carolyn Hax (I read her in the Washington Post online) is my favorite. She's sort of sassy and isn't afraid to be harsh with people who are being dumb about their relationships.
Posted on October 18, 2007 11:24 AM
I can't stand Carolyn Hax. When I was a Post subscriber I had to do my damnedest to avoid her column.
The only advice column I like is Savage Love by Dan Savage. Pure entertainment. Not for young'ens eyes though.
Posted on October 18, 2007 5:42 PM