Text:
“A man rode out of town on Sunday. He stayed the whole night at a hotel and rode back to town the next day on Sunday. How is this possible? The horse’s name is Sunday.”
Context:
A girl from LA who learned this riddle from her grandma.
Analysis:
Interestingly enough, I have heard this riddle before, but the horse’s name was Friday instead of Sunday. This serves as an example of multiplicity and variation when sharing and spreading folk speech like riddles.
Main text:
Religious riddles
Background on informant:
My grandmother is a deeply devout Christian whose faith is woven into her everyday life. Much of the folklore she shares is rooted in her faith, whether it’s Christian riddles or her love for worship music.
Informant: Ohh, I have a good one for you.
Interviewer: Ok, let me have it.
Informant: What is more powerful than God, more evil than the devil, all poor people have it, and if rich
people ate it, they would die?
Interviewer: I don’t know, what is more powerful than God?
Informant: NOTHING!
Interviewer: Ok..
Informant: Nothing….
Interviewer: Ohhhh I get it. Dang that’s a good one.
Informant: My congregation liked that one too.
Analysis: This riddle does more than just make you think, it’s a way for my grandma’s faith community to reinforce their belief in their community values centralized around God’s power. In class, we talked about how folklore keeps group values alive, this is something fun that also reminds everyone that nothing tops God. So, through a simple riddle, they’re passing down what they believe, in a clever and engaging way that wont be forgotten.
The riddle is phrased as follows: “What’s black and white and read all over?
The classic answer is “a newspaper.” The humor comes from a play on words—while “black and white” describes the color scheme of a traditional newspaper, “read all over” sounds like “red all over,” creating a pun. Other playful variations exist, such as “a sunburned zebra” or “a blushing penguin,” which lean into the pun by replacing “read” with “red.
I first heard this riddle from my classmate Jon, who shared it with me as a joke during a class conversation. He said it was one of the first riddles he learned as a kid and that he remembers telling it to his younger siblings to see if they could figure it out. Jon mentioned that while the riddle is widely known, it has lost some of its relevance because newspapers are no longer as central to daily life as they once were. He also pointed out that kids today might not immediately associate “black and white” with print media, making the joke less obvious to younger generations.
This riddle reflects the role of wordplay in oral tradition, using a pun to create humor and challenge the listener to think outside the box. The structure follows a classic pattern of riddles, where a seemingly straightforward description leads to an unexpected answer that hinges on a double meaning.
Historically, this riddle likely gained popularity when newspapers were the primary source of information in daily life. It reinforces how humor and language evolve with culture. While it was once an intuitive joke, it may now require explanation for younger audiences unfamiliar with print media. This shift highlights how language, humor, and cultural references change over time as technology and media consumption habits evolve.Beyond its immediate entertainment value, the riddle demonstrates how simple linguistic tricks can teach reasoning and lateral thinking, encouraging listeners to consider multiple meanings of words. It also shows how oral traditions, even in the form of simple jokes, reflect cultural shifts, making this classic riddle both a piece of folk humor and a small artifact of historical media culture.
Date of performance: 2/11/25
Language: English
Nationality: American
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English
Residence: Los Angeles.
Riddle: “You’re trapped in a room with no windows and no doors, no escape. There’s nothing but a table and a mirror. How are you able to get out?”
Solution: Look in the mirror, and you see what you saw. Take the saw, cut the table in half. Two halves make a whole, jump through the (w)hole.
Context: “I think I heard this from either my older sister or my mom first. It was one of those things they told me to try and stump me because how was I supposed to know the wordplay? I remember getting really frustrated at it but then thinking it was brilliant and immediately telling a bunch of other people, feeling so smart because I knew the wordplay and they didn’t. It’s one of those riddles that’s less about the actual process of finding the answer, it comes down to whether you know the specific wordplay or not.”
Analysis: This is undoubtedly the most creative riddle I’ve heard in a long time. The majority of riddles I’ve heard are just overly vague descriptions of simple things, like an egg or a mountain, but this one is far more interesting. I struggle to think of how someone could solve it without first being clued into the wordplay. But instead of that detracting from the quality of the riddle, I think it adds to it. The unusual nature of the riddle is what captivated the informant and gave it such significance to them, only compounded by the fact that they initially heard it from a close family member.
Age: 20
Date of performance: 2/22/25
Language: Chinese
Nationality: Chinese
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: Chinese & English
Residence: United States
Riddle:
“I whisper secrets, make trees sway, My voice is felt, but not seen in play. Though I’m invisible, I can be heard all day.”
Context:
This riddle is usually heard at Chinese lantern festivals in which is meant to be interacted with predominantly by children. This is the case because it is considered a beginner-level riddle. Children interact with these riddles from the festival as they are attached to lanterns during the event. These lanterns serve as a reward system and if you get a riddle correct, you are awarded a rice dumpling.
Interviewee mentions that most riddles from Chinese Culture are predominantly from Chinese Lantern Festivals. They heard this knowledge while growing up from their mom, but it is also generally well-known in Chinese culture. Furthermore, they mentioned it was such an easy riddle and refused to provide the answer upon introduction of the riddle having me try to figure it out on my own.
Analysis:
I was able to answer the riddle pretty easily despite feeling like I was being tricked by my friend. The answer was the wind, which felt pretty self-explanatory to me in the end. I find myself so used to the trend that riddles try to trick people through the use of making the answer something you can’t see that I naturally fell back to thinking of the wind first; which in this case was right as it’s a common riddle answer.
I found it quite interesting how riddles were introduced to children at events, not only that but through the use of lanterns. I’m so accustomed to them just being a verbal challenge that this is such a fun way to implement them and challenge kids. I find it such a fun way to help children integrate into Chinese festivals and help them feel involved in their culture