Category Archives: Riddle

English riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: School
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/29/2020
Primary Language: English

Main piece: 

The following is transcribed from a riddle between the informant and interviewer.

Informant: A red guy lives in a red house 

Interviewer: A red guy lives in a red house. Ok. 

Informant: A blue guy lives in a blue house.

Interviewer: Blue guy in blue house.

Informant: yes, uhhh a green guy lives in a green house. 

Interviewer: Ok. 

Informant: Who lives in the White House. 

Interviewer: I know it’s not a white guy right? 

Informant: Oh my god. I thought you would get this one. 

Interviewer: What is it?

Informant: The president. The president lives in the white house. 

Background:  My sister was born in LA and she goes to school in Downey. She first heard this riddle about 5 years ago and says it whenever she’s saying any jokes. She tells this joke specifically to see if people fall for it and say “white guy”. 

Context: The setting was in my room during the day. I asked her if she knew of any other joke or riddle and threw this one at me. After failing to find the joke in the first one (the pinecone and pineapple one), she was disappointed I failed at this one too. 

Thoughts: I think I’m not a riddle or joke person. The answer can be right in front of me and I won’t be able to detect it. I can also deduce I’m not a very good listener. It seems like I take things literally and think logically. I followed the pattern of a color person living in the same color house but that’s not it. One has to think outside the box and look at the bigger picture.

English riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: School
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/29/2020
Primary Language: English

Main piece: 

The following is transcribed from a riddle the informant gave the interviewer. 

Informant: A pine tree grows 10 pineapples. 

Interviewer: Ok. 

Informant: Two of the pineapples out of the 10 fall. How many pineapples are left on the tree?

Interviewer: On the tree? Or are there? 

Informant: Are there on the tree. 

Interviewer: I would say ten minus two so 8 left. But it’s probably wrong. 

Informant: Correct! You’re wrong. There are 0 pineapples on the pine tree.

Interviewer: How come? What do you mean? 

Informant: Because pine trees do not grow pineapples. 

Background: My sister was born in LA and she goes to school in Downey. She first heard this riddle about a year ago. She usually says when there’s “usually nothing to talk about”. She remembers it because “it was pretty good and easy to follow”. 

Context: After giving me a myth, I asked if she knew of any jokes or riddles. She responded with “yes I know this one” and continued with the above riddle. This was taken from my room. Casual. 

Thoughts: I fooled myself. I consider myself a numbers person so when I heard 10 and 2 I just did basic subtraction but I didn’t pay attention to the pine tree and pineapple detail. In a way, I guess it shows I’m not a good listener. All in all, it was a short and concise riddle that served its purpose. It made me say “oooh yeah” after getting the joke. I tried to fool my dad later on but he said 0 so he actually listens. This can be a listening test now that I think about it. A good listener would say 0 and a poor listener would say 8 just like I did. 

What happens in a minute?

Nationality: Native American
Age: 9
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 4-24-2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Informant: What hap– this is a riddle, what happens once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

Interviewer: I don’t know.

Informant: The letter ‘M’

Background:

The informant is a nine-year-old Native American boy from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. He was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. He is in elementary school.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger brother. I asked him is he knew any jokes or riddles.

Thoughts:

Proverbs, riddles, and.charms are three of the shorter forms of folklore. They are not necessarily confined to oral expression, having appeared in written literature for ages. The purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive its listener regarding its meaning. A descriptions is given where the answer must be deciphered. Many times riddles are used as a contest of wits. In America, riddles are very popular with children though in most cases age segregation does not apply.

How many people are in family?

Nationality: Native American
Age: 10
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 4-22-2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Informant: There is one grandma, two mom’s and two daughters and one granddaughter. How many people are in the family?

Interview: Oh, shoot, my brain is running slow. How many?

Interview: Three. Because the grandmother, uh, two mothers: the grandmother and the mother (2), two daughters, the daughter and um . . the daughter and the daughter’s daughter and there is one granddaughter.

Background:

The informant is a ten-year-old Native American girl from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. She was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. She is in fourth grade.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger sister. I asked her is she knew any jokes or riddles.

Thoughts: 

Proverbs, riddles, and.charms are three of the shorter forms of folklore. They are not necessarily confined to oral expression, having appeared in written literature for ages. The purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive its listener regarding its meaning. A descriptions is given where the answer must be deciphered. Many times riddles are used as a contest of wits. In America, riddles are very popular with children though in most cases age segregation does not apply.

Doctor playing a prank to get money

Nationality: Native American
Age: 10
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 04-22-2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Informant: There was this man. He was older and kinda wanted to make money. So he did this thing, it’s kinda like a riddle or funny story. So the man wanted to get money quick, so he opened up a doctor’s office. And he said, “if you come in you have to pay me $500, but if I kill you I have to give you $1,000.

Interviewer: What happens if he kills you?

Informant: You have to give him $500, but if he doesn’t cure you he gives you $1,000. And so this man thought it was an easy way to get money, because he didn’t think he knew that much. He came in and said, “I lost my taste. I can’t taste anything.” And the man says “Open box #22.” And he gives him something. And he tastes it and says “Oh, this is gasoline.” And the doctor said, congratulations, you have your taste buds back. That’ll be $500. And then the man got really angry and he came back there and said something about, I forget what it was. Oh yea, he was like “I can’t see. I’m losing my eyesight.” And he said, “Open box 22” or something like that. And then he did something and um, “congratulations you have your eyesight back.” 

So that day he lost $1,500.

Background:

The informant is a ten-year-old Native American girl from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. She was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. She is in fourth grade.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger sister. I asked her is she knew any jokes or riddles.

Thoughts:

Proverbs, riddles, and.charms are three of the shorter forms of folklore. They are not necessarily confined to oral expression, having appeared in written literature for ages. The purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive its listener regarding its meaning. A descriptions is given where the answer must be deciphered. Many times riddles are used as a contest of wits. She kind left out a few bits or jumped around a bit. Sorry if the piece is a bit contradictory. I think this joke reflects the growing distrust that people have toward doctors and the overall healthcare system while simultaneously showing the greed of the populace.