Author Archives: Sam Choi

Riddle – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 25
Occupation: Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Spanish

There’s a dead man lying next to a rock. How did he die? (after a series of yes/no questions, the person listening to the riddle should eventually find out the answer)

Answer: the man is Superman (rock is Kryptonite)

Origins

Phil Lee heard this riddle from high school friends (in Los Angeles).

Collector’s comments

To further explain this short, odd riddle, the person asking the riddle simply states, “There’s a dead man lying next to a rock. How did he die?” and lets the other person know that they may only ask a series of yes or no questions.

As an example, one may ask questions like:

– Is the man a movie star?

– Is the man a comic hero?

– Is it a normal rock?

Eventually, the person asking the yes/no questions should be able to deduce that it is superman by asking questions that are more and more detailed.

Riddle – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 25
Occupation: Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Spanish

Play on similar words (1 of 2)

Person 1: Say boast ten times, quickly

Person 2: Boast boast boast boast boast boast boast boast boast boast

Person 1: What do you put into a toaster?

Person 2: Toast?

Person 1: No, bread

Origins

Phil Lee heard this riddle from high school friends (in Los Angeles).

Collector’s Comments

This riddle is the second of two riddles that Phil Lee told me. The riddles are basically intended to trick people into giving a stupid reply to a simple question by using a play on words.

In this case, Phil asked me to say boast ten times very quickly and then he immediately asked what I put into a toaster. I was supposed to reply immediately, but instead I hesitated for a second, processed the question quickly, and replied bread (much to his displeasure).

He later explained that his riddles usually cause others to give an absurd reply if they do not take any time to think about the question and respond immediately. In this case, Phil expected me to say toast since it rhymes with boast.

Riddle – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 25
Occupation: Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Spanish

Play on similar words (2 of 2)

Person 1: Say ten, ten times quickly

Person 2: Ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten

Person 1: What is an aluminum can made out of?

Person 2: Tin

Person 1: No, aluminum

Origins

Phil Lee heard this riddle from high school friends (in Los Angeles).

Collector’s Comments

This riddle is the second of two riddles that Phil Lee told me. The riddles are basically intended to trick people into giving a stupid reply to a simple question by using a play on words.

In this case, Phil asked me to say “ten” ten times very quickly and then he immediately asked what an aluminum can is made of. I was supposed to reply immediately, but instead I hesitated for a second, processed the question quickly, and replied aluminum.

He later explained that his riddles usually cause others to give an absurd reply if they do not take any time to think about the question and respond immediately. In this case, Phil expected me to say tin because it sounds so similar to ten.

Myth

Nationality: Irish, Scottish
Occupation: Reverend
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Unicorns”

Origins

Reverend Kenney started learning about the history and myth behind unicorns when she took an art history course in college. She continued to learn more when she visited the San Diego Wildlife Animal Park several years ago.

Quoted from Reverend Kenney

“I didn’t really know anything about unicorns until I took an art history course. I began to see images of unicorns in western art, much of which came out of the Renaissance, particularly in tapestry. The interpretation that was always given… usually you’d see a fair young maiden and a unicorn together…. Usually it symbolized purity. The unicorn was always white.”

“I began doing a bit of research and in at least three places in the Bible there are three references to unicorns. In some translations of Genesis, the unicorn was the first animal created. The image there again interprets into a symbol of purity. But this was strictly the western unicorn. I knew the unicorn also existed in Chinese culture and meant a very different thing.”

“Last time I heard it discussed was at the San Diego Wildlife Animal Park. When we were traveling through the park and the tour guide stopped and asked us to look at a very particular kind of animal. It had two horns but if you were looking at the animal from the side, it looked like it had one horn. Since the animal came from the same countries where unicorn mythology came up, it might be that this animal is why unicorns exist.”

Collector’s comments

The explanation for unicorns given by the animal park’s tour guide is confirmed by other sources that also reason that Europeans probably had a quick glance at a unicorn-like animal that looked like it had one horn from the side. The only difference in the source I found (www.avians.net/paragon/unicornessay.htm), is that the author of the essay claims that the unicorn-like animal actually had a spiral horn, much like the one pictured below.

Contemporary Legend – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Irish, Scottish
Occupation: Reverend
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Tennis Shoes”

Origins

My informant had a story about tennis shoes hanging from telephone wires and what they mean. When she was in junior high, she was told those shoes have a specific significance. She believes she heard it from a friend’s older brother who was in high school.

Quoted from Reverend Kenney:

“If you walk through many different sections of LA and communities around LA, occasionally there is a pair of tennis shoes hanging from telephone line. “You should be somewhat frightened when you saw them” some kids would say.”

“I grew up in Los Angeles and was told tennis shoes were put on telephone poles to show which territory belonged to a specific street gang. If you’re in a particular gang, you’re supposed to read the signs / symbols of a gang and stay out, or you will be threatened.”

“When I came back to Los Angeles 20 years ago, the urban legend was changed a bit. Now, it signals that the house facing those tennis shoes was a crack house. If you were looking for crack, that was the place to get it. This is a story that may have some truth to it. But if you look carefully, the shoes are all different sizes. Most are not very expensive tennis shoes. In reality, what they show is that some kid was mad at another kid, took their shoes, and threw them over the telephone line. Or, it means one kid was challenging another kid to see if he had the strength to get the tennis shoes up there.”

Collector’s comments:

Although I was born in Chicago and never came to Los Angeles until I began at USC, I too vaguely remember seeing tennis shoes on telephone pole wires. However, I never really heard any of these legends about the significant of the shoes. I simply saw them and assumed one kid had stolen another kid’s shoes and tossed them over the telephone pole wires. It seems like the most logical explanation since as a child, my friends and I would always push ourselves to the limit. We would try to pop “wheelies” on our bikes over unstable terrain, constantly run around train tracks, and perform other actions that we used to try assert our bravery. Repeatedly throwing a pair of shoes over telephone pole wires sounds like a lot like the challenges we would make amongst ourselves.