National Lampoon Totally True Facts [Paperback]

Jason Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1994

A riotous all-new collection of the bizarre, often unintentional, but always genuine humor or everyday life in America and beyond.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809235609
• ISBN-13: 978-0809235605
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #682,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HILARIOUS BOOK!, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: National Lampoon Totally True Facts (Paperback)

THIS BOOK IS VERY FUNNY, I OWN IT AND IT'S GREAT TO READ OVER AND OVER. JAM-PACKED WITH TONS OF HILARIOUS REAL-LIFE HUMOR. YOU WON'T BELIEVE SOME OF THE THINGS THEY FIND! IT'S ALSO A GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE TO SHOW COMPANY! A MUST BUY.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Oops! Unintended Observations!!, December 22, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: National Lampoon Totally True Facts (Paperback)

National Lampoon Totally True Facts is a very funny collection of some of the best real life headlines, signs, advertisements, and personals you will ever see. The context is often off-color, so I cannot repeat most of the obvious double entendres here.

To give you a flavor of the items that I can repeat, here goes:

Headline: "Commissioner David to Head `Assault on Literacy Month'";

Personal ad: "Person who's putting clawmarks on my husbands back, would you please doctor him or lay off one."

Advertising headline: "Get involved with drugs before your children do.";

Neon sign outside of bar: "Cocktails AA";

Sign on building: "No handguns or unsterilized bedding.";

Employment ad: "Pier 34 Is Not Hiring!" with details of when to apply;

Headline: "Brain bypass surgery ineffective.";

Sign: "No restroom privileges in phone booth.";

Sign: "Rare, Out-of-Print & Non-Existent Books";

Sign: "Broadmoor Apartments -- the brilliant alternative to living.";

Sign: "L.S.D. Kennels";

Sign: "Live Bait" with arrow pointing towards cemetery.

Most of the examples are produced one to a page with a brief caption to set up the joke. The book's main weaknesses are that the reproduction quality of the images is very low quality so they are often hard to examine, and some of the jokes are repeated a bit too often -- especially the ones about colloquial names for male sexual equipment. The book lacks any essay or other commentary to provide a perspective for what all of this means.

My interpretation is that many people imagine the message they are sending without fully capturing what the message actually says. This is a typical problem of human miscommunication. The malapropism and type tendencies are probably compounded by the fact that we often subtly associate one thing subconsciously with another. Finally, we have too much reverence for the printed word . . . rather than seeing it as a convenient way to express ideas and messages, many of which are faulty.

Be sure you read aloud whatever you write. You'll be surprised by what you have literally created . . . that didn't appear strange on the written page.