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Most unfortunate titles

Description: Inadvertent racism, accidental double entendres, titles that simply suggest something completely different from what the author or publisher intended. Let's expose them to ridicule here. If necessary, put an explanation or the original title in the comments.

Rank Title Author Added

1

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

25,639 members

619 reviews

4.2

2 Members: thorold, konallis
Explanations: thorold: Probably the most famous case: First it was "Ten little niggers", then it was "Ten little Indians", and now it's "And then there were none"

2

Scouts in Bondage A Story of Boy Scouts in Strange Adventure

by Geoffrey Prout

4 members

2 Members: thorold, konallis
Explanations: thorold: Michael Bell used this one as the title for a book about unfortunate titles

3

by Thomas C. Hinkle

38 members

4 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: I almost suffocated with laughter the first time I fell upon this.

4

Ice Cream for Small Plants

by Etta H. Handy

3 members

Member: konallis

5

Riding the Snake

by Stephen Cannell

239 members

3 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Seriously! You want me to explain?

6

Jill Enjoys Her Ponies

by Ruby Ferguson

99 members

2 reviews

4

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: It's hard to believe that this one is perfectly genuine, not a parody.

7

The Pocket Book of Boners: An Omnibus of School Boy Howlers and Unconcious Humor

by Alexander Abingdon

32 members

1 review

3.9

Member: Sylak

8

The White South

by Hammond Innes

246 members

5 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Not Alabama, but the Antarctic ice

9

A woodcock in the hand: Tips for examining, aging & sexing American woodcock

by Greg F Sepik

1 member

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: I agree; you'd have to be very, very infantile to find this amusing. ;)

10

The Coming Race

by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton

571 members

15 reviews

2.9

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Presumably it's a case of last one to finish gets the prize?

11

Melons for the Passionate Grower

62 members

5

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Apparently, Amy has grown a lovely pair her self.

12

The escaped cock

by D. H. Lawrence

51 members

1 review

½ 3.3

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Nothing to do with flies being left undone.

13

So Guy Came Too

12 members

½ 3.5

Member: thorold

14

The Ten Commandments from the Back Side: Bible Stories with a Twist

by J. Ellsworth Kalas

194 members

½ 2.5

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Opens up whole new areas of theology

15

The Perfect Pair (Silver Blades)

by Melissa Lowell

30 members

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Tee-hee Boobies.

16

The Bottom of the Harbor

by Joseph Mitchell

185 members

2 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Not the memoirs of a quayside rent-boy, but a rather good book of essays

17

A Rocket in My Pocket

by Carl Withers

155 members

3 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: ...or, are you just glad to see me?

18

The Scouts of Stonewall

by Joseph A. Altsheler

38 members

1 review

3

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Story of the men who left the Village People before they became famous

19

Games you can play with your pussy ; and lots of other stuff cat owners should know

by Ira Alterman

28 members

4 reviews

½ 2.5

Member: Sylak

20

My adventures in bolshevik Russia

3 members

2 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: It's the French title, Sous Lénine, that gets this one into the list.

21

Overcoming Obstacles With SPUNK!

by L. Diane Wolfe

2 members

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: This may only be funny in Britain?

22

by Charles Dickens

12,016 members

146 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: If Dickens had had a shilling for every time this was used as title of a 70s porn film, he'd be a rich man

23

5,550 members

83 reviews

3.9

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Because 'ass' is always funny.

24

by E. M. Forster

9,687 members

144 reviews

4

Member: thorold

25

Working Bullocks

by Katharine Susannah Prichard

25 members

1 review

4

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Because at first glance everyone sees the word 'Bollocks'.

26

Scouting for Boys

by Robert Baden-Powell

464 members

3 reviews

3.8

Member: thorold

27

by Douglas Clark

41 members

½ 3.6

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Not the practice of urinating on another person for sexual pleasure.

28

The Gay Phoenix

by Michael Innes

132 members

5 reviews

3.8

Member: thorold

29

Here Comes a Chopper

by Gladys Mitchell

56 members

3.8

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Chopper is UK slang. ;)

30

by Christopher Fowler

203 members

9 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: This book has nothing to do with bondage or sexual roleplay. It's about a demon named Spanky - honest.

31

Jill Has Two Ponies

by Ruby Ferguson

114 members

1 review

4.2

Member: thorold

32

Please Mrs. Butler

by Allan Ahlberg

315 members

5 reviews

4.1

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: A comma would have made all the difference

33

by Tony Fitzpatrick

9 members

5

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Referring to a certain part of London's Soho?

34

Roger, the Jolly Pirate

by Brett Helquist

351 members

30 reviews

4.1

Member: thorold

35

Grace in the End

by Gordon Mcconville

148 members

1 review

4

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: Poor Grace.

36

The Rape of the Lock

by Alexander Pope

742 members

7 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: About a woman's hair being cut off as a prank at a party. Nothing more.

37

The Wind Blows Backward

by Mary Downing Hahn

196 members

6 reviews

4

Member: thorold

38

Between Two Queens

by Kate Emerson

200 members

8 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: Headless woman in bisexual Tudor threesome?

39

by Erin Brockovich

98 members

6 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: She must workout.

40

Five Go Off to Camp

1,316 members

16 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: I'm sure there must be a funnier Famous Five title somewhere, but this one isn't bad to start with.

41

Where's Your Honey Pot, Bear?

by Garry Fleming

4 members

Member: Sylak
Explanations: Sylak: The worst chat up line one bear ever gave to another!

42

Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology

by Stanley Hedeen

66 members

2 reviews

3.8

Member: thorold

43

Biggles Takes it Rough

65 members

2 reviews

½ 3.3

Member: thorold

44

Preposterous Erections: A Book of English Towers

by Peter Ashley

6 members

Explanations: thorold : Funny, but obviously intended to be, so ineligible

About This List

Started: thorold
March 2014
Type: Numbered and unnumbered

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