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[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "If your nose runs and your feet smell, are you upside down?" by Don Davis.]

What do you call the fear of long words?

Have you ever wanted to be the life of the party? Now you can with Don Davis’s If Your Nose Runs, And Your Feet Smell, Are You Upside Down? (And Other Stupid Questions No One Really Needs to Know the Answers To). The book is a compendium of jokes that can come in handy for the next birthday bash, high school reunion, or Sunday get-together. Pack it with your potluck dish and proceed to entertain the bored guests with your wisecracks, keeping your fingers crossed that nobody has heard them before.

While the subtitle mentions only questions, the 15 topics in the book range from the humorous “What? When? Where? Why? How?” questions to categories like “Famous Stuff,” “Blonde,” and “Confucius Say” containing other funny one-liners, short gags, or longer anecdotes. However, I think the author should have stuck with the questions to be consistent with the subtitle. As he also intends to deliver sequels, the other jokes can figure in those next books.

Most of the short jokes take the form of witty wordplay. The longer ones are hilarious anecdotes about ordinary life such as bar scenes, student-teacher exchanges, and man-and-wife banter. Thank heavens there is no “Knock, Knock” stuff! While I get a great majority of the punch lines, there are a few that I fail to appreciate. Perhaps I’m too old for them, or I am not familiar with the movies, political events, or other items referred to. I did perform a diligent scouring of the Net for clues.

Some of the jokes that are a big hit with me follow:

“Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?”

“If God sneezes, what would you say to Him?”

“How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.”

The book includes off-color items (around ten percent of the total) featuring swearing, obscenity, toilet humor, blonde jokes, and making fun of the disabled and disgraced. I personally don’t recommend those jokes and wish they were not part of the collection. I especially dislike the derogatory blonde jokes and take great offense at the Helen Keller jokes. I also don’t care for the jokes demeaning celebrity junkies, pedophiles, and errant politicians. These may be acceptable for private sharing, but not for wide publication.

Don Davis uses the phrase “written by” on the title page. This phrase bothers me as I traced a good number of the jokes to different sites on the Net. While a portion of his material may be original, he may be on the safer side by using the phrase “compiled by” and including a disclaimer regarding authorship (as specific attribution may be impossible). As gleaned from one site in the Net, “plagiarized jokes are no laughing matter.”

I also have a problem with the numerous grammatical and technical slips in the book. There are punctuation errors (like missed or overused periods, commas, hyphens, and quotation marks), improper capitalizations, and missed line breaks. The “Dalai Lama” is called “Dahlia Llama.” (I doubt Mr. Davis was thinking of flora and fauna!) An item on page three is repeated in toto on page thirteen. We also see run-on sentences, misspelled words, and wrong verb tenses.

I did have fun with the book despite the negatives mentioned. I recommend it to adults wanting to unwind and have a hearty laugh after a tiring workday. I don’t advice the young to read it owing to the off-color items mentioned. I rate this jokebook 2 out of 4 stars. It would advance to 3 stars with a thorough editing. Censoring the contents for a general audience would move it another level up.

So what’s the fear of long words called? It’s simply hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. If that’s not scary enough for you, spell it!

******
If your nose runs and your feet smell, are you upside down?
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Like Miriam Molina's review? Post a comment saying so!

It’s so difficult to find clean humor. I’m afraid the off-color content that you mentioned is enough for me to say no to this book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I like comedy, but its off putting if an author collects others work and calls it his own. I appreciate the research you did to complete this review and thanks for the honesty. I'll pass on this book for now.

After reading the title of this book, I thought it would be a sort of children's funny book... That's bad to add off-color items in jokes book. Writing a clean comedy book is really an art. Thanks for your critical review.

Thanks, everyone, for visiting. The rhetorical questions would have been enough. You will be amazed at how confusing English can be! How can fat chance and slim chance mean the same? And why can you carry shipment in a car and then ship cargo?

For authors, authenticity should be held in high regard. I already sort of knew your review was going to mention that the jokes were not original because it takes special skill and talent to write a whole book of the author's original jokes. Anyway, thank you Miriam for your detailed review!

Thanks Nmadinachi Egwim! I'm willing to bet your name is an original.

The statement at the bottom of the cover shown here is not in the copy I reviewed. From that statement, one can presume that the contents may not be original. I wouldn't know if there were other changes made to address the plagiarism issue.

Writing a joke book is not something easy special been creative with words is a art that people cannot do easily. Too bad about the errors though. Thank you!

Miriam Molina wrote: ↑05 May 2018, 11:42 The “Dalai Lama” is called “Dahlia Llama.” (I doubt Mr. Davis was thinking of flora and fauna!)

This is great! It should be in the book
I think your points all make a lot of sense. Some things are just distasteful, not funny.
Thanks for the awesome review!

Miriam Molina wrote: ↑05 May 2018, 11:42 Don Davis uses the phrase “written by” on the title page. This phrase bothers me as I traced a good number of the jokes to different sites on the Net. While a portion of his material may be original, he may be on the safer side by using the phrase “compiled by” and including a disclaimer regarding authorship (as specific attribution may be impossible). As gleaned from one site in the Net, “plagiarized jokes are no laughing matter.”

I absolutely agree with this. Maybe some of them are original, but there are so many joke compilation sites out there, I'm not surprised you found several of them. Great review - pity about the book.

Sahani Nimandra wrote: ↑06 May 2018, 03:49 Writing a joke book is not something easy special been creative with words is a art that people cannot do easily. Too bad about the errors though. Thank you!

I agree with you. Joking isn't kid stuff.

Bianka Walter wrote: ↑06 May 2018, 04:07

Miriam Molina wrote: ↑05 May 2018, 11:42 The “Dalai Lama” is called “Dahlia Llama.” (I doubt Mr. Davis was thinking of flora and fauna!)

This is great! It should be in the book
I think your points all make a lot of sense. Some things are just distasteful, not funny.
Thanks for the awesome review!

Thanks for the kind words, Bianka Walter!

Are there lots of llama in South Africa? Are they endangered too?

Libs_Books wrote: ↑06 May 2018, 08:11

Miriam Molina wrote: ↑05 May 2018, 11:42 Don Davis uses the phrase “written by” on the title page. This phrase bothers me as I traced a good number of the jokes to different sites on the Net. While a portion of his material may be original, he may be on the safer side by using the phrase “compiled by” and including a disclaimer regarding authorship (as specific attribution may be impossible). As gleaned from one site in the Net, “plagiarized jokes are no laughing matter.”

I absolutely agree with this. Maybe some of them are original, but there are so many joke compilation sites out there, I'm not surprised you found several of them. Great review - pity about the book.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Libs_Books!

The title of this book made me giggle. It sounds like the book has potential, even though the demeaning jokes are certainly rude and unnecessary. It's too bad about the errors. Thanks for the insightful review.

bookowlie wrote: ↑06 May 2018, 16:14 The title of this book made me giggle. It sounds like the book has potential, even though the demeaning jokes are certainly rude and unnecessary. It's too bad about the errors. Thanks for the insightful review.

The title was the clincher that made me select the book. I was imagining myself with my nose down there and my feet up here. But then I would jump (like being on a pogo stick), not run. Seriously!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and giggles, Bookowlie! I always enjoy them.