28 replies to this topic

[BCullis]

What can run but never walks,
Has a mouth but never talks,
Has a bed but never sleeps,
Has a head but never weeps?

Spoiler

A river!

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Edited by BCullis, 14 September 2012 - 10:16 AM.

[Servant of the Lord]

What can run but never walks,
Has a mouth but never talks,
Has a bed but never sleeps,
Has a head but never weeps?

Bedroom programmer ?

Spur of the moment adaptation, so might not be too great:

What can run but has no legs,

Can read, but has no eyes,

Can sleep, but has no bed,
Can write, but has no hands,
Can think, but has no head?

Spoiler

An executable.
Just be glad I didn't make any 'bite/byte' jokes.

[edit:] Whoops, BCullis added a riddle - didn't mean to distract from his.

Edited by Servant of the Lord, 14 September 2012 - 10:24 AM.

[slayemin]

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...

Spoiler

It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.

[way2lazy2care]

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...

Spoiler

It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.

Spoiler

It's the speaker's son I think. The first sentence kind of misleads you because it's not really super important.

[BCullis]

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...

Spoiler

It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.

Spoiler

That's the same argument that came up at work, actually. Semantics muddies this one.

The "canon" answer was 'my son' since the difference between using self-reference and third-person reference is supposed to prevent the "himself" condition. It communicates the idea better if "this man" is replaced with "person X", but doesn't flow as lyrically.

way2:

Spoiler

Correct, but the first line is important: otherwise it could be the speaker's nephew.

[BeanDog]

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

[way2lazy2care]

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...

Spoiler

It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.

Spoiler

That's the same argument that came up at work, actually. Semantics muddies this one.

The "canon" answer was 'my son' since the difference between using self-reference and third-person reference is supposed to prevent the "himself" condition. It communicates the idea better if "this man" is replaced with "person X", but doesn't flow as lyrically.

Spoiler

I think using the "this man" in the question "Who is this man?" makes the difference. I'm a little confused though. Let's say we have a = speaker, b = speaker's father, and c = speaker's son.

If self reference:
this man's father == b
my father's son == a
This man's father is my father's son == a=b ???

If not.
this man = x (undefined man)
this man's father = x+ (can't think of a good notation for this)
my father's son = a
x+= a
x = a- = b

Am I misunderstanding the argument?

Spoiler

Correct, but the first line is important: otherwise it could be the speaker's nephew.

Ah yea.

[way2lazy2care]

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

An orange parrot?

[BeanDog]

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

An orange parrot?

A carrot, obviously.