Category Archives: Riddle

Catch Riddle – California

Nationality: Brazilian-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Palos Verdes, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Portuguese

Catch Riddle—USA

“If you ask someone to say I’m a Math Debater! Five times fast, it sounds like they are saying I’m a Masturbator!”

Marcelo informed me that this was one of his favorite riddles because it works every time, and because everyone always gets a good kick out of it.  He first heard it from one of his close friends when he was a junior at his high school, Palos Verdes Peninsula High in Southern California.  It is a pretty simple catch riddle; a way of getting someone to say something that they ordinarily would never, and is vulgar, inappropriate and hilarious.  Usually when someone performs the riddle, he or she does it in front of a large group of friends so that the victim will feel more embarrassed and sometimes even humiliated.  From Marcelo’s personal experience, the victim usually gets really red in the face and buries his face in his hands.  Right after this victim utters the phrase five times fast, there is a pause in the group, and everyone looks at each other, and then bursts out into laughter.  Though Marcelo does not know where the riddle originally came from he believes that he’s heard the same catch riddle throughout California, both southern and northern, so it likely originated somewhere on the west coast.  Either way, he has been using on kids at USC ever since he started school here in August 2007.

Riddle

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: March 12, 2008
Primary Language: English

Riddle

An American is in the kitchen.

What do you call him in the bathroom?

European.

Emilie told this riddle at dinner one night at Parkside Cafeteria in front of a group of friends.  It was a relaxing night where everyone was swapping jokes at the dinner table.  Emilie says that she first heard this riddle during elementary school, on the playground during recess.  She said this was a popular riddle that a lot of the school children sang.

Emilie’s riddle is a play on words and can be classified as an oppositional riddle.  “European” sounds like “you are peeing”, which is what one does in the bathroom.  I believe that this riddle is the result of childish antics because children find humor with bodily functions.  In addition, elementary school is when the children are learning new vocabulary and experimenting with words.  Furthermore, although neither Emilie nor I know when this riddle was invented, there could have possibly been Anti-European sentiment at the time the riddle was created.  This riddle associates Europeans with bathrooms, which usually carries a negative connotation.

Riddle – Mexican

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 46
Occupation: Tailor
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish

Primer acto: una botella de agua

Segundo acto: un pato

Tercer acto: un mar

Conclusión? Agua pa tomar!

Act 1: a bottle of water

Act 2: a duck

Act 3: a sea

Conclusion? Water to drink!

Victoria said that she learned about this riddle when she was young, about 12 years old. It was presented to her by one of her sisters in Mexico. She said that it is simply a clever way to convey a message.

Although the riddle makes no sense when it is translated to English, it is a mind bender in Spanish. This is one of those riddles where you are shown pictures and you are supposed to figure out how each picture makes sense in the context and creates a phrase. In this one, the bottle of water is obviously water. But it gets tricky with the duck and sea. You are supposed to split up the word ‘pato’, thus having ‘pa’ (to) and ‘to’. But then you have to combine ‘to’ and mar’ to create ‘tomar’ (drink). Pretty basic, yet entertaining.

Riddle – Mexican

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 46
Occupation: Tailor
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish

En Navidad, siempre nos juntamos y empezamos hacer intercambios. Y depende de la persona que me toca le empiezo hacer bromas. Aveces es ropa vieja, zapatos o cosas ya hechadas a perder. Y al tiempo que abre su regalo va mirando que no es lo el esperaba y son puras bromas que le estamos haciendo.

On Christmas, we always get together and have gift exchanges. Depending on the person that I get, I pull pranks on them. Sometimes they get old clothes, shoes, or things that have gone to waste. And when they open their gift they see that it’s not what they were expecting and it was just a prank that was being pulled on them.

This represents the very fun loving attitude that my family has. Victoria isn’t the only one pulling pranks on Christmas to other family members, they all do it as well. I’ve seen some give others blow up female dolls, a slice of bread, etc. Everybody does it for a laugh and since we don’t get together as a family like this that often, everyone wants to make it memorable. Also, when someone brings someone brings their new boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, they are the primary targets. It not to be mean, it’s just to reassure them that the family welcomes them to join in the festivities and possibly so that they can pull pranks on other the next year. To them it’s sort of like a rite of passage, while it is just a tradition to everyone else.

Riddle/Joke – United States of America

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Riddle/Joke – United States of America

“So there are ten fish in a bowl, and one dies, how many are left? 10 ‘cause the dead one is still in the bowl.”

“So there are 10 birds on a tree and you shoot and kill one, how many are left? 0 ‘cause the rest flew away.”

“So there are 10 lit candles and the wind blows out 1, how many are left? 1 ‘cause the others burned down.”

It was a sultry Sunday afternoon when I first heard Hanlong test a bunch of us with this riddle. No one got even close to the correct answers, either because they expected a stupid reply or just didn’t have the logical capacity to deduce the answer. It was very amusing so I asked Hanlong more about it.

He said that it was kind of a craze back in his elementary school. One of his peers used it to challenge the intelligence of the rest of the class in a bid for being the smartest pupil in class. Hanlong also indicated that it wasn’t just a test of logic but also used to make those that failed to answer it feel inferior. Therefore, it is safe to say that at the time it was quite condescending.

What surprised me was that we, a group of university freshmen, failed to garner a correct answer. But, as it is with many riddles, many fail to answer it correctly the first time, regardless of their intellectual prowess. But, in using this riddle at the time, Hanlong made everyone laugh profusely, for no less than a few minutes. It was our severe lack of logic that led to this. However, this can be contrasted to an elementary school environment, where failure would have resulted in a very sad child, or if things were malicious, a stream of tears.

Now we use this riddle as more of a joke. Although, I had never come across it as an elementary school student, I now use it sometimes in close company for a laugh. It’s great for a random laugh and for some a nostalgic remembrance of their past endeavors in school. Of course, I’d never use this in serious company although I’m sure Hanlong would not hesitate.