# Most unfortunate book title ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782 "2003-02-08T23:34:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/41 "2003-02-12T02:20:43Z")
I was a-wandering through a department store once and saw some items in the underwear department featuring that well-known cartoon bear. I leaned over and said to my mother, “They’re selling undies with Pooh already on them! Can they _do_ that?!” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/42 "2003-02-12T02:37:15Z")
There is a whole book of these little gems: _Bizarre Books_ by Russell Ash and Brian Lake. Hilarious stuff. Some items of note: \*\* Ice Cream for Small Plants Scouts in Bondage I Was Hitler’s Maid Fish Who Answer the Telephone The Glands of Destiny We All Killed Grandma Penetrating Wagner’s Ring Fashion is Spinach Cancer: Is the Dog the Cause? Teach Yourself Alcoholism \*\*and, presumably written by \*\*JDT: Cocktugs: A Short History of the Liverpool Screw Towing Company\*\* ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/43 "2003-02-12T02:59:33Z")
Not quite in the same league, if only because it’s a subtitle, but it’s an embarrasingly illiterate attachment to a highly regarded, scholarly book (hardcover published by Random House, and paperback by Penguin): [Downfall: The End of the **Imperial Japanese Empire**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0141001461/qid=1045018594/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1270196-4247058?v=glance&s=books). My jaw dropped when I pulled it out of the box. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/44 "2003-02-12T03:57:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonblink \* > \*\*I was a-wandering through a department store once and saw some items in the underwear department featuring that well-known cartoon bear. > > I leaned over and said to my mother, “They’re selling undies with Pooh already on them! Can they _do_ that?!” \*\* Heh-I’ll admit it-I actually have panties with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger and Piglet on them. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/45 "2003-02-12T04:22:51Z")
Recently, at the library where I work, someone sent us a letter urging us to buy his new (self-published) book, THE NEXT TABOO: CURING CANCER THROUGH CANNIBALISM. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/46 "2003-02-12T06:19:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Heh-I’ll admit it-I actually have panties with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger and Piglet on them. \*\* Can I see? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/47 "2003-02-12T11:51:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnugTheJoiner \* > \*\*Recently, at the library where I work, someone sent us a letter urging us to buy his new (self-published) book, THE NEXT TABOO: CURING CANCER THROUGH CANNIBALISM. \*\* Presumably his next book will be CURING KURU THROUGH CHAIN SMOKING. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/48 "2003-02-12T14:53:25Z")
Some ancient books whose titles have become funnier over the years: **Dorothy Dainty’s Gay Times Jim Phenix’s Big Bulge Goody Goodwife Entertains the Fairy Be Bold with Bananas** and (my favorite) **Lively Lays for Dreary Days** ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/49 "2003-02-12T15:12:40Z")
> [@](#): > > We All Killed Grandma I just want to note that I was upset when I saw this in **Bizarre Books**. The title is quite deliberate – it’s one of Fredric Brown’s wonderful mysteries, and it’s supposed to look weird and grab your attention. You might as well put **Bimbos of the Death Sun** and **Zombies of the Gene Pool** in here as well (excellent mysteries, highly recommended). ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/50 "2003-02-12T15:25:28Z")
You think those books are ancient? Though the contemporary title of this book is _The Metamorphoses_, due to confusion with Ovid’s masterpiece, the wacky novel by Apuleius is more commonly known as _The Golden Ass_. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782/51 "2003-02-12T15:28:10Z")
Some more gems from _Bizarre Books_: The Big Problem of Small Organs How to Avoid Intercourse With Your Unfriendly Car Mechanic The Midnight Cry; or; Signs in the Church of the Bridegroom’s Second Coming Scouts in Bondage And There I Stood with My Piccolo in My Hand [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-book-title-ever/153782.md?page=2)