Dept. of Did You Know?

Remarque’s original title in German was Im Westen nichts Neues: ‘Nothing New in the West’. [...]

When it came to an English translation, ‘Nothing New in the West’ was felt to be too Teutonic a title. Herbert Read, Remarque’s English editor, wrote to him in 1929: ‘[We] had a discussion…and we came to the conclusion that “All Quiet on the Western Front” was not so bad…I still think it is not so good as the German title, because it is not so neat and incisive. But it is a familiar phrase, and has all the ironic implication of the German title.’ This reveals a rather interesting fact. In 1929 ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ was already a well-worn phrase, and thus it did not originate with Remarque's translated title.

That's from a new blog called How Books Got Their Titles, which is what it is about. As I am writing, 44 titles have been explained, and the bloke is posting every day. How long will he be able to keep going like this?

Happy eggfest, everybody!