Riddle

A man leaves from home and goes right. Then her turns left, then left again. He makes one final left and returns home. What is his profession?

-He’s a Baseball Player

The informant, Ilana, learned this riddle from a homeless man in Oakland, CA in early January 2008. Ilana says that she makes it a habit to talk with homeless people. The man that told her the riddle was one of the friendliest homeless people she has ever met. The riddle was one of three the man told her, but it stuck out in her mind because she thought it was very clever. Ilana explained that the answer is a baseball player because the riddle describes a person running the bases. Ilana said she would tell the riddle if a group of her friends were telling riddles. After hearing the homeless man’s three riddle Ilana gave him a few dollars.

The riddle makes use of a vague description of an action. A person must interpret the action described in the riddle in order to solve it. If one were to solve the riddle, it would demonstrate that person’s ability to think creatively outside of the box. The homeless many was obviously using his riddle telling ability to panhandle people in an attempt to get them to give him money. His begging tactic is very shrewd and inventive.