Second. Second place is next to winning. Seconds, the measure of time, pass quickly. Seconding a motion is requested by the chair of the body in Parliament. And the second place finisher in many sporting events such as the Olympics is awarded the silver medal.
And as for why the unit of time is called a second, it goes back to the days of Ptolemy. A second of time is the second small part, or pars minuta secunda, of an hour. (Thanks to Tim J for researching it).
A man saw a snake crossing the road and swerved to crush it with his tires. All the street lights were off as well as the car’s headlights. There were no other lights on along the road.
I’m up and down and round about, yet all the world can’t find me out. Though thousands have employed their leisure, they never yet could find my measure. I’m found in almost every garden, In a compass or a farden. There’s neither chariot coach nor mill may move one inch except I will.
Brief (or briefs). A legal brief is a short outline of the arguments in a court case, briefs are worn by men to cover their privates. Brief also means to not last long and brief rhymes with grief, a kind of misery.
The most popular answer for this teaser is ‘today’. Of course this only works if you’re reading it on that particular date or if the date is not specified. Another option is to respond literally with ‘a date’. Lastly, certain dates could be squeezed into letters using Roman numerals if you abbreviate the year to 2 numerals. For example, January 20th, 2011 would be I XX XI.
My family sings Christmas carols at the hospital where my wife works. We do this every year and since we started, have not missed a single year. The next time we do this will be the 18th consecutive Christmas. My 15 year old daughter has been every time.
She was born in March 1999 so the first year she came was December 1999 (before her 1st birthday). Her first time was when she was 0, second time when she was 1, third time when she was 2, etc…
Now that she is 15, she has been 16 times. Oh and of course she was also present in December 1998 in her mum’s belly, due to be born the next March.
So, a total of 17 times and next time will be the 18th.
Thanks to Michael for submitting this real-life brain teaser about his family.
Add a diagonal line on the top left of the first plus sign to convert + into a 4. You could also put a slash through the equal sign to make ≠ (not equal) but that’s not as cool.