Category Archives: Riddle

Riddle – Pamplona, Spain

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pamplona, Spain
Performance Date: April 06, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Riddle-Bananas

“Oro parece, plata no es. ¿Que es?”

“Looks gold. Silver is not. What is?”

“It looks like gold. It is not silver. What is it?”

Pablo learned this riddle when he was a child in Pamplona from his mother. He said she would always tell him little riddles to help him build his intelligence. He said that this riddle can only be used in Spain because it does not make sense anywhere else. Whenever you say it in Spanish, the answer is hidden in the riddle. Pablo said the answer to the riddle is platono. In English, platono means banana. The reason it only makes sense in Spanish is because the word platono forms whenever you combine plata and no. Therefore, in Spanish, the riddle says “oro parace, plata no es. ¿Que es? Platono. Now, one can understand why it does not make sense in English. Banana does not form by combining the words silver and no. Pablo said that this riddle is primarily for children because it is too easy for adults. He said a lot of Spanish mothers will give their children riddles to help them learn how to think quickly.

Pablo likes this poem because he enjoys seeing people who do not know any better struggle to get the right answer. He said that if you performed this riddle to someone who didn’t understand Spanish folklore but knew the language, it would be funny to see them think hard for such a simple answer. A good example of this is a Spaniard telling this riddle to an American who knows how to speak Spanish. Although he might know the language very well, he might not be able to get the right answer because he does not expect it. That is why riddles are great. They not only make you think, but they make you realize how simple the answer was afterwards.

I agree with Pablo that this a nice riddle to give to kids. The answer does seem too obvious for adults but children will have fun trying to guess what the answer is. I also think that this riddle can only be used in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries because of the culture and the language. If an American performed this riddle to another American, it would not make sense because we do not speak Spanish as our national language. I think this joke also represents how people can see the answer right in front of them but still not be able to get it. It does not mean that person is stupid. It just means that he was unaware of the answer directly in front of his face.

This riddle can also be seen in More Riddles for the Spanish Class, a book written by Joseph Raymond. This book provides many Spanish riddles with interpretations of some of them. This particular riddle is found on page 328 along with many others.

Annotation: Raymond, Joseph. More Riddles for the Spanish Class. Vol. 35. American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portugese, 1952. 328.

Riddle

Nationality: White
Age: 50
Occupation: Elementary School Counselor
Residence: St. Peters, MO
Performance Date: April 15, 2008
Primary Language: English

Riddle-Instrument

“What keys can’t you put in a lock? –Piano Keys”

My mom said she learned this riddle when she was a schoolgirl taking piano lessons in Long Beach, CA. She said she was between the ages of ten and eleven when her piano instructor asked her this riddle to test her. My mom figured out the answer pretty quickly because she was playing the piano at the same time. She said this was just a little riddle to make her think and have fun while playing. My mom has played the piano throughout her whole life so this riddle reminds her of her first days playing those simple songs. For those who do not play piano, it might be hard to figure out simply because they do not think of piano keys as being the answer. However, many pianists would figure it out because they play everyday. When my mother first asked me this riddle, I had no idea what the answer was but that was probably because I was the only member of the family that did not play piano.

My mom said this riddle can be performed anytime to test the wits of individuals. She said that it can be asked to children as well as adults for both might struggle to figure out the answer if they do not have any knowledge of the piano. She said it is funny to watch individuals think so hard about such a simple answer, especially if they are familiar with the piano. She said her piano teacher performed it during a lesson so that could be a good time to do it as well. She likes to say it whenever she is around the piano so that the answer is obvious. This, she says, is fun to watch because the answer is literally right in front of their eyes.

When I asked my mom what this riddle meant to her, she responded saying that it reminded her of her first days playing the piano and the fun she had with her instructor. She also said that it helped her think quickly and efficiently to answer other riddles similar to that of the piano one. She likes riddles because sometimes the answers are so obvious yet so difficult to figure out at first. Even though she figured this one out right away, others were more difficult. Overall, she enjoys the piano riddle because the answer relates to her favorite instrument.

As I stated before, this riddle was not as obvious to me as it was to my mom. That is why I think it represents a lack of awareness. Although the answers of many riddles are directly in front of our eyes, we still cannot figure out the answer because we are not aware of the elements described in the question. Whenever the performer asks what type of key does not open a lock, an average person would not think of an instrument. However, a musical person might think of it right away just like my mother did. They were aware that the answer dealt with piano keys because of their musical background. But, I do enjoy riddles because they make me think critically in a short period of time.

Riddle – Philippines

Nationality: Phillipino-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mystic, CT
Performance Date: April 10, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Kung gusto mong tumagal pa ang aking buhay, kailangang ako ay mamatay.”

“If like expect endure to cause the suffer life, must me die.”

“If you want my life to be longer, I need to die.”

Answer: kandila (candle)

Matt heard this riddle from his mother when he was about 12 years old growing up in Mystic Connecticut.  His mother is 100% Filipino and his father is mostly English.  His mother learned this riddle when she lived in the Philippines about 40 years ago.  The riddle is something that the entire family knows and is one that they share during dinners with other families or when they want to try to stump friends.  The riddle is traditionally of Philippine origin and according to Matt the Philippine culture loves riddles.  Matt’s mother was able to give the Tagalog writing of the riddle that is the top line of the riddle.  Tagalog is one of the major languages of the Philippines.  According to Matt, his mother told him that the word for riddle in Tagalog was bugtong.  To tell the riddle, the person is supposed to ask the question and wait until the person who is trying to guess cannot formulate any ideas, and then you give them the answer.

Riddles date back far into the past with examples such as Oedipus and the Sphinx.  References to riddles are also seen in more recent movies such as “The Neverending Story” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”.  In some cases there may be a series of riddles that a person may have to answer in order to get past a gate or guard on their way to a goal or treasure.  Although riddles are widespread throughout the world, they are quite popular in the Philippines because they have been trading them for so long.

I think that this riddle for the most part is hard to guess straight off the bat without any clues.  After knowing the answer it is easy to look back on the riddle itself and see how it fits in.  This general principle of being able to trick the person being deceived into thinking that the riddle is talking about something else is very common in riddles.  Often, solving riddle requires very outside the box thinking and enough knowledge and intuition to be able to solve the puzzles using a creative mind.  I believe this riddle to be a true riddle because it gives the potential guesser all of the information necessary to guess the answer.

Riddle

Nationality: German
Age: 54
Occupation: NICU Nurse
Residence: Stevenson Ranch, CA
Performance Date: Sometime in 2000
Primary Language: English

Doodle riddle, Riddle doodle…A Droodle!

The above shape was set before me by my mother as a challenge. She told me to draw the picture without going back over my lines and without picking my pen up off the paper. At first the object appears simple to draw but can actually be quite challenging. My mother knows quite a few of these droodles but for some reason, this is one she likes in particular. The point of droodles is simply to test ones skill and creativity, a fun game that works as a practical riddle. It still involves thought but one must think outside the box in order to complete most droodles.

I think droodles are fun and they can even function in another way. Sometimes droodles appear as a picture and instead of having to draw it, a person may just be challenged to figure out what the image is. Most often, the answer is something far-fetched and meant to make the person laugh. In essence, droodles really are just riddles put in picture form, for they can be tricky and the degree of difficulty depends on the creativity of the artist. Mostly though, the answer can be however a person interprets it, which makes them even more enjoyable, because there can always be more than one answer. As a matter of fact, the more silly and crazy the interpretation, the better the droodle becomes.

Catch Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

Instructions in performing the Catch Riddle titled “Stop & Pots”:

  • Subject 1 asks Subject 2 to do two things
    • When Subject 1 says “stop”, Subject 2 must spell out “S-T-O-P” out loud
    • When Subject 1 says “pots”, Subject 2 must spell out “P-O-T-S” our loud
  • Subject 1 randomly alternates between saying stop and pots, nearly ten times.  Throughout this time, Subject 2 is constantly spelling the two words repeatedly.
  • Finally, Subject 1 asks Subject 2, “What do you do at a green light?”
    • Subject 2’s tendency is to say, “stop” even though that is the wrong answer, thereby being the catch riddle.

Eric, now a student in Santa Barbara, “learned this catch riddle in elementary

school when another boy pulled the catch riddle on me [him].  I fell for the catch riddle and actually said stop.  Most people actually fall for it.  I tried it out on my family when I first found out about it, and everyone except my mom fell for it.  The funny thing is that I haven’t forgotten the riddle and have actually used it as I have gotten older.  And still, even when people aren’t in elementary school and are more intelligent they still fall for the catch.  Anytime I say the riddle it brings back vivid memories of when I actually first heard it on the blacktops of my school where we played basketball at recess.”

When I first asked Eric if he knew of any forms of folklore, specifically jokes and riddles, he responded by beginning the process of this catch riddle.  I fell for it myself and then he went into detail about how and when he learned it.  It seems appropriate that these catch riddles would spread throughout elementary schools because kids find them extremely fascinating.  However, I am not certain that most originate at elementary schools.  One theory I have is that most originate amongst older children, anywhere from middle school to high school students, and they proceed to try out the catch riddles on their younger siblings.  Then, the younger siblings find the catch riddles amazing and cool, only to spread them across elementary schools.  This catch riddle seems appropriate to say to people of all ages, which isn’t always the case.