Built From Anything You Don’t Like

I’m built from anything you don’t like,
You’re using me right now in fact,
I am one but represent many,
When attacked I’m easily cracked,
I’m created in seconds but live forever
And though you may not understand,
I’ll help you do well but be careful my friend,
Hurt me and you won’t withstand.

What am I?

Character (or characters).

Kids are often told, when dealing with unpleasant things, that it builds character. You’re reading the characters this riddle is written with. In computer science a char is often represented by one byte and can store any character you want.

When politicians have their character besmirched it can swiftly change the voting public’s mind about them. Characters in novels are created with a few lines but live on in our memories. And if your character or reputation is damaged, you may find it hard to deal with the aftermath.

And here’s a great quote from Warren Buffet on your character.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffet

Posted in Riddles

One Way I’m Feeling Normal

One way I’m feeling normal,
Another I’m extremely thin,
I could be a punishment,
Or the type who always wins.

I’m free from all impurity,
And you may have divined,
I have a keen edge,
But of course I am refined.

Fine.

The riddle refers to a variety of meanings of the word fine.

Feeling normal refers to when you feel fine.
Extremely thin refers to a fine thread.
A punishment refers to being charged a fee.
The one who wins refers to an athlete who is physically trained and hardened close to the limit of efficiency.
Free from impurity refers to measuring the fineness of precious metals.
A keen edge refers to a knife with a fine edge.
Refined refers to fine manners or elegance.

Posted in Riddles

That That Is Is

Add punctuation to these words to make a grammatically correct series of phrases.

That that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is

That that is, is; that that is not, is not. Is not that it? It is.

There are almost assuredly other grammatically correct variations. Feel free to add ones you can think of in the comments.

Posted in Brain Teasers

100 Less Than 99

Where do you find that 100 is less than 99?

On a microwave. Most microwaves will run for a minute if you enter 100, but will run for a minute and 39 seconds if you enter 99.

100 is also less than 99 in an ordered ranking, where 1 is first, and 100th is a lower rank than 99th place.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Shorter Than My Four Siblings

Shorter than my four siblings,
but easily the strongest,
sometimes I wear a funny hat.

A Thumb.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

New Door

Rearrange the letters in the words “new door” to make one word.

“new door” can be rearranged into “one word”

Posted in Brain Teasers

To Protect Our King From A Foe’s Attack

The eight of us go forth not back to protect our king from a foe’s attack. What are we?

Pawns in a chess game. There are eight pawns and they are only permitted to move forward, not backward and the primary objective in chess is to protect the king.

Posted in Riddles

Train From Chicago to LA

An electric train is traveling on a 2000-mile journey from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA. It has 16 cars with a total of 320 passengers. The weather is cloudy and cool, with a warm front approaching from the south. Which direction will the steam blow?

There is no steam. It’s an electric train.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Boys Use, Girls Like and Parents Hate

Boys use it, girls like it, parents hate it. What is this 5-letter word?

The phone.

Posted in Riddles

Making Lots of Shirts

In a textile factory, 5 machines take exactly 5 minutes to make 5 shirts. How many minutes will it take 100 machines to produce 100 shirts?

5 minutes. It takes each machine 5 minutes to make a shirt, so if you have all 100 machines running at the same time, they’ll produce the 100 shirts in 5 minutes.

Posted in Brain Teasers