“What smells best at Thanksgiving dinner?”/“Your nose.”
A “What smells best?” riddle involved a perfume shop in 1934:
Q: What smells best in a perfume shop?
A: Your nose.
The “What smells best?” riddle involved a bakery in 1947:
Q: What smells best in a bakery?
A: Your nose.
The Thanksgiving riddle has been cited in print since at least 2006:
Q: What smells the best at Thanksgiving dinner?
A: Your nose.
30 December 1934, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “Riddles” by Louise Rash (Age 11), pg. 6, col. 6:
What smells best in a perfume shop?
Your nose.
15 April 1947, Ogden (UT) Standard-Examiner, “Riddles,” pg. 4B, col. 4:
What smells best in a bakery?
Your nose.
4 August 1958, Austin (TX) Statesman, “Fun Time—The Riddle Box,” pg. 12, col. 5:
What smells best in a perfume store?
Your nose.
6 March 1974, San Diego (CA) Union, “Fun Time,” D-18, col. 4:
What smells best in a bakery?
Your nose.
19 November 2006, Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), “Riddle Me This,” Flying Horse, pg. ?, col. 5:
Q: What smells the best at Thanksgiving dinner?
A: Your nose.
Google Groups: alt.badgers
Happy for the Giving Thanks day, fraunlevin!
Drew
11/22/06
(...)
What smells the best at a Thanksgiving dinner?
Your nose
Twitter
OCAEC
@OCAEC
Thanksgiving literature (?): What smells best at Thanksgivig dinner? Your nose.
11:22 AM - 13 Nov 2009
Google Books
The Happy Classroom:
From Ha-Ha to A-Ha
By Janet Aaker Smith
Marion, IL: Pieces of Learning
2011
Pg. 87:
What smells the best at a Thanksgiving dinner?
Your nose.
Google Books
Corny Thanksgiving Jokes to Tickle Your Funny Bone
By Linda Bozzo
Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
2013
Pg. 16:
What smells the best at Thanksgiving dinner?
Your nose.