Tag Archives: Riddle

“What is something that runs but has no feet; has a bed but never sleeps?”

Performance Date: February 17th, 2023

SM is a 20 year old environmental studies major at USC. She grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she would spend weekends camping with her family and being out in nature. In her past time, she enjoys hiking and exploring new areas. The following riddle was told to her when she was younger by her grandfather while they were camping once.

“What is something that runs, but has no feet; has a bed, but never sleeps?” “A river.”

Riddles are very popular in many cultures, especially with children. SM heard this riddle when she was a young girl, and it was told to her during a camping trip. This riddle stuck with SM for so long not only because she heard it as a child, but because of its content. As someone who is a huge nature lover and environmentalist, it’s no surprise she loves this riddle. Most riddles have some sort of uniqueness that puts it into categories. As a writer, the riddle that stuck with me the most is “What’s black, white, and read all over? A newspaper.” The riddles that stick with children as they grow up usually relate to a part of their personality or interests, so there is a hint of familiarity. Riddles are meant to stump or confuse the audience they’re being told to, so when children can find familiarity within them, the riddles tend to stick.

Electricity Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC Student Housing
Performance Date: 2/20/23
Primary Language: English

Main Performance:

HG: Basically you’re in this, like, house that’s like a labyrinth, or whatever. Um… and there’s no electricity and its like dark and whatever, and there’s these doors. There’s these three doors, um… I’m gonna tell you the doors and you pick, actually.

Me: Ok.

HG: So the first one, there’s Red Door, Blue Door, and Green Door. Which one do you pick?

Me: Blue Door.

HG: Ok, um… and then there’s door one, two and three. Which one do you pick?

Me: One.

HG: One? Ok, and then there’s pink door, white door, and black door. Which one do you pick?

Me: White.

HG: White? Ok, um… then there’s five doors. One with a picture of a giraffe and the other four are just one, two, three, and four.

Me: Three.

HG: Ok… Lotta people pick the giraffe door but that’s ok.

Me: *Laughing*

HG: And then finally there’s three more, its just sky door, grass door and moon door.

M: I’ll go with moon door.

HG: And then you’re presented with three options, you finally enter this room and um… they are all ways to die, basically. The first way is to enter a cage with a lion in it. The next is you have to hang yourself. And then the last one is an electric chair. Which one are you picking?

Me: The electric chair.

HG: Aw yeah why’s that

ME: *Laughing* Because there’s no electricity in the house!

HG: *Laughing* Aw f*ck you


Background: The respondent heard the riddle in middle school to the best of his memory. He is from New York City.

Thoughts/Analysis: I had definitely heard a riddle with the same sort of punchline before the informant had told me his riddle, but I didn’t realize it until he said the last option. To someone who hasn’t heard the riddle before, it is supposed to rely on the complex steps that the riddler walks the subject through before arriving at the final decision. You are thinking about so many things throughout the course of the riddle that you forget one of the basic things about the house. In the performance of the riddle, the informant took many “thinking” pauses between each of my decisions to try and signal to me that he was thinking about the path that I was taking in order to throw me off.

Pelican Soup

Date: April 4, 2022 

Source and Relationship: W, friend

Type: Riddle

Folklore/ Text:  “A man is walking down the boardwalk in San Francisco, he sees a sign outside of a restaurant that says “Today Only – Pelican Soup.” He goes inside, sits down, and orders the pelican soup. He takes one bite, walks back outside, and kills himself. Why did he do it?”

Answer: “This man had been previously stranded on an island with his wife for a very long time, and out of delirious hunger, he ate her after having convinced himself it was pelican soup. Once the man got back to civilization, he tried the pelican soup to compare it to what he had on the island. When he discovers that it tastes completely different, he walks outside and kills himself, realizing what he had done to his wife while they were deserted.”

Performance Context: My friend W told us this riddle during a break in our Thursday discussion section that his mom used to tell his siblings to keep them occupied on long car rides. He is a 20 year old USC student with two siblings and high family values. 

Explanation: When I first heard this riddle, I threw out a myriad of potential answers that made sense in my head, but W simply sat and looked at me sympathetically, knowing I would never guess it. My other classmate who I was sitting next to insisted on figuring it out himself, but I eventually surrendered and begged for the solution. 

I have a head and I have a tail, but I do not have a body. What am I?

Q: I have a head and I have a tail, but I do not have a body. What am I?

A: A coin

Background: Y is a 20 year old who was born and raised in New Jersey. She now resides in Los Angeles, California. 

Context: This riddle was told to me at a hangout among friends.

Analysis: I liked this riddle because of its simplicity. It relies on knowledge that everyone would have about coins and, perhaps, animals. The barrier to entry for understanding this joke is very low, which is what makes it so compelling. Like most riddles, the answer is not impossible, but just out of reach. It’s simple enough for the audience to have an “oh, of course!” moment when the answer is revealed. This shared moment among audience members and the performer of the riddle works well with the riddle’s wordplay. 

Delicate Riddle

Main Performance:

The informant, TB, was recounting a riddle she heard that made her laugh. I will be listed as AK.

TB: “What’s something so delicate that even saying it breaks it?”

AK: “What?”

TB: “You have to guess.”

AK: “Okay… trust?”

TB: “No.”

AK: “Wait- a secret!”

TB: “Hmm, close actually.”

AK: “I can’t think of anything else.”

TB: “Silence.”

Background:

The informant had heard the riddle in an online video where two people were playing a drinking game of trying to get the other person to drink by presenting a riddle their opponent couldn’t crack.

Context:

Notably, two of TB’s friends were around who had also seen the video, and when I said that I hadn’t, she wanted to test out one of the riddles on me. The others were laughing throughout as I struggled through multiple silences between responses, each time not hearing the answer that was in plain sight.

Thoughts:

The riddle has a witty twist of humor that almost makes the person subjected to the answer feel a bit stupid and silly for not knowing it. While being the most obvious response, it makes there a clear insider to the riddle and if you aren’t, the humor is a little bit at your expense. And this is something applicable to most riddles, but for this one it is a large point of contention.