Category Archives: Riddle

Riddle – American

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 23, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Make the following equation true by drawing only one straight line:

5 + 5 + 5 = 550

Answer: 5 4 5 + 5 = 550

My informant saw this riddle on a Facebook wall post from her roommate.  She was bored one day and did not want to do homework, so she asked her roommate to give her something to do.  Her roommate posted this riddle on her Facebook wall.  My informant worked on the riddle for a very long time but could not figure out the answer.  Eventually, her roommate gave my informant the answer to the riddle.   It is interesting that my informant heard this riddle from an engineering major, since the riddle is a play on a math problem.

My informant believes this riddle is popular among math and engineering students as well as anyone who enjoys mathematics.  My informant also believes that because she could not figure out the riddle because she is not as skilled at mathematics as her roommate is.

I believe that figuring out this riddle has nothing to do with mathematics.  I think this riddle is visual.  Those who are very observant and visual people are more likely to solve this riddle.

Collector’s note:  How this riddle was shared demonstrates the influence of the Internet on the spread of folklore.

Riddle – American

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Q: “What is black before you use it, red while you use it, and white after you use it?”

A: Charcoal.

My informant first heard about this riddle while reading a newspaper.  My informant found the riddle in the corner of the newspaper and thought it was a pretty interesting riddle but easy to solve.  My informant also believes that this riddle is very popular and that most people knew the answer to this riddle.

Therefore, at the barbeque with all of our friends when all of us were giving each other riddles my informant told us this riddle believing that all of us would get the answer.  However, surprisingly only one person got the right answer.  Riddles are fun to solve because they are mentally challenging.  It takes some thinking to do and when a person gets the answer right then they feel very accomplished.

There are many different types of riddles.  There are riddles that are very simple and should not be over analyzed.  There are riddles that are a play on words.  Since there are so many different types and variations of riddles, riddles are a very good example of folklore.  They are spread throughout all over the world.  They are constantly being told and maybe they are even being told in a different way.

Riddle – American

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Q: “What word is pronounced the same when you take out 4 letters?”

A: Queue; Q.

My informant first heard this riddle while attending UCSB.  He was sitting in his dorm room with some friends.  One of his friends mentioned that there was this really good riddle in the daily newspaper.  The friend asked my informant the riddle and my informant did not know the answer.  When my informant’s friend revealed the answer, my informant believed that it was a very tricky riddle.  Even though my informant thought it was tricky, he thought it was a very intelligent one that would be challenging if he told someone else.

Therefore, during a barbeque at a friend’s house, my informant and some friends were asking each other riddles and my informant asked me this riddle.  I did not know the answer and felt very dumbfounded after my informant revealed the answer.  After my informant told me the riddle, I realized that riddles do not usually come up in a normal conversation.  Riddles usually come up when a person has recently just heard a riddle and thought it was very interesting.  After one person brings up a riddle, it breaks the ice of the conversation and many other people start to bring up riddles.  After one riddle is brought up, it seems as if it becomes a game and other people bring up riddles because they want to feel smart since they know the answer.

Riddle – American

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2007
Primary Language: English

Q: “A car is parked outside of a hotel, it drives off and the guy ends up in jail. How?”

A: It’s a monopoly game board.

My informant first heard this riddle when he was 8 years old.  My informant and some of his friends were playing monopoly and after they were done playing the game, my informant’s friend told this riddle.  Since my informant’s friend told this riddle right after playing the game board, my informant was able to get the answer.  However, when my informant told this riddle at the barbeque we were all confused and none of us could get the answer.

After all of us heard the answer to the riddle from my informant, all of us thought that it was a silly riddle because the answer was so simple.  Most riddles have this effect because when most people think about riddles, most people try to overanalyze it by thinking of different situations.  When most people tell riddles, it is automatically thought in people’s minds that the answer will be hard to get or it will be tricky.  Since most people automatically have this mindset, the riddles that are the hardest to answer are actually the simplest riddles.  The simplest riddles are the ones that get people the most.  This is why most people tell these types of riddles because once the person realizes how easy the answer was, they feel dumb.  Therefore, the person telling the riddle finds it amusing or entertaining that the person is trying so hard to figure the riddle out.

Riddle – United States of America

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Huntington Park, CA
Performance Date: February 09, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

What do you call a lesbian dinosaur?

—A LICKALOTTAPUSS!

Carlos said that he learned this joke from a cousin of his while he was in middle school. He attended middle school in southern California. He does not remember exactly what age he was when he first heard it, but he guesses to have been between the age of 11 and 14. The riddle is told randomly with no real introduction. The riddle can be told anywhere but is usually only told to those of about the same age.

I asked Carlos why he repeated the riddle to other and he simply answered “because it’s funny”. The riddle seems to be more than just funny. It appears to be part of the transitional period between child and adult. The child is leaving behind the fantasy world of dinosaurs and other creatures which they play with and the sexualized American adult life. It is a period when ideas of sexual orientation play a big part because as children grow up they began to gain a sexual identity.