Nearly Hanging

A prisoner is told, “If you tell a lie we will hang you; if you tell the truth we will shoot you.”

What can he say to save himself?

You will hang me. If they hang him, then the statement was true and they could only hang him for telling a lie. If they shoot him, then it makes the statement a lie and they were only to shoot him for telling the truth. An alternate solution is to say, “You will not shoot me,” leading to the same quandary for the killers.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Drift Forever With The Current

I drift forever with the current
down these long canals they’ve made
Tame, yet wild, I run elusive
Multitasking to your aid.
Before I came, the world was darker
Colder, sometimes, rougher, true
But though I might make living easy,
I’m good at killing people too.

Electricity (or lightning).

Posted in Riddles

Area, Death, Kick

What word can be added before or after these words to make a new word or phrase?

Area, Death, Kick

Penalty. Penalty area, Death penalty, Penalty kick.

Posted in Riddles

A Surprise Party

What is a surprise party without any cause for celebration?

An ambush.

Posted in Riddles

I Don’t Exist Unless You Cut Me

I don’t exist unless you cut me, but if you stab me I won’t bleed. I hate no one yet am abhorred by all. What am I?

A fart.

Posted in Riddles

I Am a Protector

I am a protector.
I sit on a bridge.
One person can see right through me.
Others wonder what I hide.

What am I?

Sunglasses

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

Four Gallons From Two Buckets

You have two buckets. One holds exactly five gallons and the other three gallons. How can you measure exactly four gallons of water into the five gallon bucket?

Assume you have an unlimited supply of water and that there are no measurement markings of any kind on the buckets.

  1. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
  2. Pour the 3 gallons of water into the 5-gallon bucket
  3. Fill the 3-gallon bucket again.
  4. Fill up the 5-gallon bucket with the 3-gallon bucket, leaving you with 1 gallon left in the 3-gallon bucket.
  5. Empty out the 5-gallon bucket.
  6. Pour the remaining 1 gallon of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket.
  7. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
  8. Pour the 3 gallons of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket leaving you with 4 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket.

Alternate solution:

  1. Fill up the 5 gallon bucket
  2. Pour it into 3 gallon bucket, leaving 2 gallons
  3. Empty out the 3 gallon bucket
  4. Pour the 2 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket into the 3 gallon bucket
  5. Fill up the 5 gallon bucket and pour it into the 3 gallon bucket until it’s full, leaving 4 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket.
Posted in Brain Teasers

Born in 1946, Died in 1947

A man is born in 1946 and dies in 1947, yet he was 86 years old. How is that possible?

He was born in room #1946 of the hospital when he was born, and died in room #1947 86 years later.

Posted in Riddles

An Alphabetic Phrase

What phrase can be made using the following letters?

A B C D E F G I

Big-faced.

I wouldn’t suggest calling anyone that, unless you want a big red nose from being punched.

Posted in Brain Teasers

How Much Dirt?

How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?

None. A hole doesn’t have any dirt.

Posted in Brain Teasers