the BIG riddle topic [part IX]

@Sandra:

SPOILER - Click to view

Clever, but there’s a better answer than that!

What’s the sound of one hand clapping?
Answer:

SPOILER - Click to view

The sound that occurs when one hand claps… I didn’t ask for specifics! :puh:

tosxyChor, Spelling thing. [spoiler]When people are older they get better in spelling? =p [/spoiler]

How do you call a smart blonde?

How far does a blind dog walk into a forest?

Halfway. After that it’s walking out of the forest. :tongue:

:eek: Man, the bots are getting smarter. They actually added a signature!

Anyways, what has four wheels and flies?

Okay, ressing this topic because I think it’s totally awesome. And I hope it doesn’t fill with spam, and if it does it can get moved the pg or wherever. So:

To Mew’s riddle, a garbage truck :happy: (someone else told me that. XD)

A man and his son were in a truck driving accident. The father died in the accident and the son was rushed to the hospital. Upon seeing the patient, the surgon said, “I can’t operate, that’s my son.” How is this possible?

(I didn’t know whether or not to post the answer in spoilers but meh, someone will answer soon enough) :razz:

Ive heard that one before and this is the answer…

SPOILER - Click to view

The surgeon is his mother :tongue:

A man lives in a high building and when he takes the elevator to work he goes all the way down, but when going back home he only takes the elevator to few floors below his and takes stairs rest of the way. Why does he do this?

SPOILER - Click to view

Because he’s too short to reach up on the highest floors’ buttons. But of course it’s no problem when going to ground floor, because those buttons are the lowest.

Don’t know any off the top of my hat and don’t want to check all topics if they were posted already^^ But maybe I’ll post something later.

I remember this one from a few days ago: A man said: “If yesterday was tomorrow, then today would be Friday.” What day is it then?

SPOILER - Click to view

Quite a braintwister I admit, but still fairly easily solvable. In order for it to "today would be Friday ", yesterday had to be a thursday. So if yesterday was tomorrow, then it has to be Wednesday. If it’s wednesday, then tomorrow is Thursday. And if yesterday was Thursday, then today it would be Friday.

Gah I still can’t think of a good one.

But try this one. Next number in line:

4 , 9, 25, 49, 121, ?

Marvin (for the solution): [spoiler] You have one part wrong, which affects the solution. The answer is not Friday.[/spoiler]

Marvin (for the question): [spoiler]I tried some calculations with rounding down and everything, but then it hit me. The answer must be 169.[/spoiler]

about Puce’s riddle

SPOILER - Click to view

I even bolded it that the answer was Wednesday, not Friday xD I hope that is correct?

About Puce’s solution to Marvin’s riddle

SPOILER - Click to view

Yes, took Magnus only a few seconds to figure out. 169 is correct. But I’m not sure if he knew it before or not^^

On Puce’s riddle:[spoiler]Working from the other way: If today is friday, then tomorrow is saturday. Yesterday = ‘tomorrow’ so yesterday is saturday… Today must be Sunday[/spoiler]Am I right?

Marvin: [spoiler] Stupid me. But no, it isn’t Wedesday either. [/spoiler]

Blenderman: [spoiler] Yes, you are correct.[/spoiler]

Still on Puce’s riddle

[spoiler]I disagree. The way I read the riddle, it cannot be Sunday. Let’s assume today is Sunday. Then “tomorrow” would be Monday. And if yesterday := Monday then today would be Tuesday. Not Friday. Or where is my error?

The way Puce and Blenderman intepreted it, “tomorrow” is viewed in the hypothetical time that today would be Friday. For me, “tomorrow” is viewed as if it was in the current real timeline.

Now if today is really Wednesday, then “tomorrow” would be Thursday. If we assign yesterday Thursday, then “today would be Friday”, exactly as it is in the riddle…[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Well, the way I translated it, I tried to mean “tomorrow” in the hypothetical sense while “yesterday” exists as normal. To the extend of my knowledge, the if-clause conveys that meaning.

Now the way I understand your argument, you solve it this way: Today is Friday. Yesterday is then Thursday. Since we said “yesterday was tomorrow”, then the day we’re looking for is yesterday for Thursday, which is Wednesday.

Looking at it the other way around, I see this: The man claims that if yesterday was tomorrow, then today would be Friday. So let’s assume that it in fact is Wednesday. Then yesterday (which is Tuesday) should be tomorrow. Then that day would be Monday. Which is not Friday.

The solution I and Blenderman have goes like this: Today is Friday. We had made yesterday tomorrow, and tomorrow is then Saturday. Since it is also yesterday from the actual day, today is Sunday.

To verify this: Let’s assume today is Sunday. We had said “if yesterday was tomorrow”, so it means “if Saturday was tomorrow”, which would point today as Friday.

I think the part we disagree on is this: Yesterday is not always tomorrow and tomorrow is not always yesterday.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I think the main problem is that we both thought that the solution would be unique. But due to the ambiguity of the riddle itself: Is tomorrow or yesterday in the hypothetical time (and the other one in the current time). Because as you pointed it out, depending on HOW you interpret the actual riddle the solution would either be Sunday or Wednesday. I wouldn’t say either is wrong.
And speculating which one (between yesterday and tomorrow) was meant in a hypothetical way and which in the real one, I guess this is more a matter of taste and personal interpretation that based on a linguistic rule. At least as far as my English goes…[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Well, I’m sorry to say Marvin, I really do think you are wrong. The key word being ‘if’. It’s not yesterday = tomorrow and therefore you can turn it around, even though I did (quite wrongly) use the = sign in my explanation.
The riddle says: ‘If yesterday was tomorrow’. That isn’t the same as ‘If tomorrow was yesterday’. There is truth and there is imagining. The true values are ‘today’ and therefore ‘yesterday’, the other words are made up… that’s why the word ‘if’ is used. If you work from the other side, from the ‘if’ side… so taking ‘friday’ and than trying to get the answer like I did, the statement would be ‘If tomorrow was yesterday’.

Let’s reason backwards from our answers. It is sunday. If yesterday (saturday) was tomorrow, then tomorrow would be saturday. Then it would be friday. That is correct.

It’s wednesday. If yesterday (tuesday) was tomorrow, then tomorrow would be tuesday. Then it would be monday.

You simply have to keep track of what is before the ‘if’ and what comes after it.[/spoiler]

^ Blenderman put what I actually tried to mean in better words. :content:

Paul is 20 years old in 1980 but only 15 years old in 1985. How is this possible?

and i have one more :smile:

he who makes it, sells it
he who buys it, doesnt use it,
he who uses it, doesnt know it

define “it”

[spoiler]For your first, the only solution I can come up with is that Paul is a character in a movie. In 1980, the character is 20, and in 1985 they make a prequel where he is 15.

Your second, however, is a coffin. He who makes the coffin, sells it. He who buys it is purchasing it for a recently passed loved one. And if you are using it… well, you are dead, so you couldn’t possibly know thet you are.[/spoiler]

Uh, this is the only riddle I can think of:

What walks on four legs in the morning, walks on two legs tn the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?