Main piece: 

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

Informant: De qué color es el caballo blanco de Napoleon? 

Interviewer: el color? Uhhh haber… 

Informant: Hay de veras? Esta no la tienes que pensar! Ya ni laces!

Interviewer: Ahh blanco verdad? 

Informant: Pues si. De qué otro color podría ser un caballo blanco?

Full Translation: 

Informant: What color is Napoleon’s white horse? 

Interviewer: The color? Uhhh let me think…

Informant: Really? You don’t have to think about this one! Cmon…

Interviewer: Ahh white… right? 

Informant: Well yes. What other color can a white horse be? 

Background: My informant was my mom. She was born in Mexico City. According to her, this is a joke that appeared on tests as a “free point” but most people would get it wrong because since it was a test, they’d overthink and write a different color. She uses it to mess around with people. 

Context: I was helping her with dishes and asked her if she knew of any jokes or riddles from when she was a kid. She immediately referred to this one. She made fun of me for not getting it right away. 

Thoughts: This one is to make a quick joke on the textbook overthinkers, including myself. I also panicked a little because I felt like I knew the answer but hesitated to say “white”. I can see why students would miss this free point. They probably thought to themselves it was too easy to be true. Overall I liked the joke because the answer is right there in the question, literally but still missable.