Category Archives: Riddle

Chinese Riddle/Tongue Twister

Nationality: British (Hong Kong), American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“men wai you shi shi shi zhi shi shi zi,

hui shi you shi shi shi zhi shi shi zi ?”

Listen

 “Beyond the door are 44 stone lions, or are they 44 dead lions?”

“This one is really common in schools, at least in my experience, because not only is it a riddle or a play on words, but the best way to describe it is a tongue twister. To be able to say it would prove your aptitude with the language, because Chinese works on a system where you have four pronunciation levels; there’s a flat, a rising, a dip and then a fall tone, and with the tone itself it changes meaning. Anyway, its a very short phrase, and translated it means, “Beyond the door are 44 stone lions, or are they 44 dead lions?” Usually the person hearing the rhyme is not expected to have an answer for it, in the context I learned it its not so much for that as it is can you say it and not mess up, and if you don’t mess up then you’re pretty good.  One of the most important things about speaking Chinese is to be aware of the difference in meaning one change in tone can make. I mean for me it was a lot of fun, and kids get a lot of bravado because they feel they know how to pronounce words properly. So it was a way to encourage kids to learn tonal differences. I never really studied why this tongue twister became so popular, but I do know that a lot of old Chinese houses like stone lions in front of their doors, as guardian spirits.” (see entry: Chinese Door Guardians)

The informant who told me about this tongue twister was born and grew up in Hong Kong for a great part of his life. He speaks fluent Chinese and has had significant exposure to Chinese culture, given the fact that he and his family still speak the language and practice many of the traditional customs. He moved to the US in 5th grade.

The informant remembers first learning this tongue twister in school about 9 years ago, when he still lived in Hong Kong. China has a very established culture of tongue twisters, given that the language is difficult to speak and tonal differences are key. He says that this is one of he most prolific and popular tongue twisters in China, and like the others, it relies on the difficulty of its pronunciation to create the challenge. Apparently this is a shortened version of a longer, more difficult tongue twister that is practiced by people schooled in traditional Chinese, however, this is the more popular one.

Lawnmower Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 4/27/13
Primary Language: English

The informant describes a riddle about an old man and a lawnmower.  The informant explains that he heard this from a friend at work and found it a fun riddle that made him think outside of the box and left him unable to figure out the answer.  Below is a summary of the riddle:

A friend of mine has a father who is sixty-five and has mowed his own lawn for years and years and he has a gas-powered, push lawnmower.  He has lived at the same place, cut the same grass, and used the same lawnmower for years and years.  He began to complain that the lawnmower wasn’t working properly.  He used to be able to cut the grass on one tank of gas and now he had to fill the lawnmower up with gas before he could finish the job.  He took the lawnmower to a small engine repair shop in town and the shop gave a full tune up on the machine – new spark plug and general touch up.  He picked up the lawnmower and went back to weekly task of mowing the lawn but was quite frustrated because despite having spent money to tune it up, it still took a refill of gas before finishing.  The question is, what is wrong with the lawnmower? The answer to this riddle is that nothing had changed about the lawnmower, but what had changed was that the man was sixty-five years old and walking slower to cut the grass.  That explains why it took more gas.

This riddle is a classic example of a scenario that forces one to think outside of the box or normal thought patterns.  Riddles such as this one are quite common within the United States and around the world.  Their popularity most likely stems from individuals’ desire to prove their intelligence and ability to solve problems.  The riddle being about a man with a lawn and a lawnmower indicates that this riddle originated from a society that has lawnmowers and lawns to mow.  It is likely that a joke involving these two things would not exist in a society without lawns or grass.

Lana sube, lana baja

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My friend is a film student at the University of Southern California.  His mother’s side of the family is Mexican, and his father’s side of the family is Serbian.

My friend heard this riddle from a cousin 6 years ago during a New Year’s celebration.  The riddle is usually delievered as:
“Lana sube, lana baja.  Que es?”

Which translates to:

“Wool rises, wool falls.  What is it?”

He says that this riddle is supposed to be  asked very quickly in order to confuse the listener.  My friend remembers that his cousin asked the riddle very quickly and he wasn’t sure what she was asking for.

The central catch to the riddle is the pun on “lana baja.”  “Lana baja” sounds similar to “la navaja,” which means “the blade” in Spanish.  Because the riddle is delivered so quickly, the riddle could possibly sound like “Lana sube, la navaja.”

The proper answer to “Lana sube, lana baja.  Que es?”  is “Lana baja,” because that is where the potential confusion lies.  My friend says that there is a level of expectation for the recipient to answer correctly if the recipient is fluent in Spanish.  When the he was unable to provide an answer for the riddle the first time, his cousin laughed at him.
The riddle itself doesn’t have any inherent meaning – it functions primarily as a catch riddle that plays on the language.  However, my friend said that this is a shortened version of another rhyme.  He speculates that this version of the riddle is popular among children because it’s easy to remember and is catchy.

I agree with my friend’s interpretation of this riddle.  However, I think this version is more popular with children because it’s easier to remember and has a pretty straightforward function and meaning.  The other version of this riddle that the informant told me is used by older people, and can also be understood as a proverb.  This is why I think the longer version is more popular among adults, and the shorter version presented above is popular with children.  I also think that it might be perceived as more proper to use the proverbial version if you’re older than the person who you’re giving the riddle to.
The other version can be found on a separate post here:
http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/?p=19268

Lana sube, lana baja, el senor que la trabaja

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: College student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Lana sube, lana baja, el senor que la trabaja”

Translated: “Money rises, money falls, for the person who deals with money”

My friend heard this riddle from his grandmother on his mother’s side.  It is a riddle that is typically posed as a question, so the performer would add “Que es?”  at the end.

The riddle is usually said fairly quickly, as it functions primarily as a catch riddle.  The answer to the riddle is “lana baja.”  The riddle operates on the phrase “lana baja” because it sounds similar to “la navaja,” which is “the blade” in Spanish.  It is up to the listener to hear the riddle correctly and point out the misleading phrase.  If the listener can’t identify the catch in the riddle, the asker usually pokes fun at the listener.

My friend said that this riddle is part of a large group of riddles in Mexico that revolve around puns and catching the listener off guard.  He says that as far as he knows, this is one of the more popular riddles in that group.

The riddle can also act as a proverb, given as advice by the asker to the listener.

“Lana” in Spanish means “wool,” but it also can mean “money.”  My friend’s grandmother told him this riddle not only to try to catch him, but to pass down the lesson in the riddle as well.   The lesson is that whoever deals with money must also deal with its instability, its ability to go up and go down without much warning.  When the riddle refers to “el senor que la trabaja,” or the person who deals with money, it doesn’t refer to a specific profession that handles money.  Thus the lesson in the riddle carries pretty universally.

The informant said that this riddle has a shorter version that is purely a catch riddle.  He feels that this version is more popular with adults because it also offers advice to the listener.  The shorter version of the riddle does away with the proverb on money and uses the more literal meaning of “lana,” wool.

I heard this riddle shortly after the informant told me the shorter version.  I was very interested in how “lana” takes on a different meaning in this version and gives the riddle a second function.  It seems to me that in order for the catch riddles to be properly used and understood, the performer and listener have to be fluent in Spanish and understand intricacies of the language as well (such as informal meanings of words).

I’ve made an entry on the shorter version of this riddle, which can be found here:
http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/?p=19262

Door to Life or Death

Nationality: Irish-Armenian American
Age: 19
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2013
Primary Language: English

Form of Folklore:  Folk Belief (Riddle)

Informant Bio:  The informant was born and raised primarily in Glendale, California; he only left the United States for a two year period (from age fourteen to fifteen) to live in London, England.  Most of his knowledge of folklore is from his mother (of Irish decent), his father (of Persian-Armenian decent), and media such as the internet and television.

Context:  The interview was conducted on the porch of the informant’s house in the presence of two other informants.

Item:    So there’s the riddle of two doors and two guards; one door leads to life, one door leads to death, one guard will always tell the truth and one guard will always lie.  And the two guards are not attached to the doors; the truth teller is not, for example, attached to the door of life, nor is the liar attached to the door of death.  It could be in front of either one.  Your objective is to find out which one… your objective, should you choose to accept it… is to find out which door leads to life, by asking one guard one question.

The answer to the riddle is:  you ask whichever guard you wish, “what will the other guard say is the right door?”  If the guard you ask happens to be the truth teller, he will truthfully tell you that the other guard will point to the wrong door.  And if you ask the liar, “what will the truth teller say?” the liar will lie about what the truth teller will say and will point to the wrong door.  So either way, if you ask “what will the other guard say is the right door?” the guard you’re talking to will point at the wrong door.  And you go through the other one.

Informant Comments:  The informant was introduced to this riddle when he was in the sixth grade.  He believes it is an interesting riddle which helps students develop strong analytic skills starting from a very young age.  Personally, the informant enjoys riddles like this one, mainly because he likes to enhance his own way of thinking.

Analysis:  This riddle is mainly used to challenge those who attempt to solve it.  Having to figure out which question, when addressed to either the liar or the truth tell, would eliminate the importance of which guard you are talking to, forces those who are introduced to this folklore to use logical reasoning and laws of negation in order to identify the door to life.  Though they may not be aware of it, people are strengthening their reasoning skills by hearing this riddle and trying to solve it.  As a pleasant addition to the riddle, the informant added some humor by referencing a famous line from the Mission Impossible films.  By pausing to say, “your mission, should you choose to accept it”, the informant gave the riddle a lightened humorous feel.  This offered a nice balance to the performance of this folklore; the riddle was challenging and yet entertaining at the same time.