The Thinner It Grows

You use me from your head to your toes.
The more you use the thinner it grows.
For years I was not often used,
Not using me now is not excused.

Soap.

Posted in Riddles

I Am, In Truth, A Yellow Fork

I am, in truth, a yellow fork
From tables in the sky
By inadvertent fingers dropped
The awful cutlery.
Of mansions never quite disclosed
And never quite concealed
The apparatus of the dark
To ignorance revealed.

— Emily Dickenson

Lightning.

Posted in Riddles

Remove Four And I’m The Same

I am an English word with five letters. If you remove my last four I am still pronounced the same. What am I?

Queue.

Posted in Riddles

A Monstrosity

I stand tall and am made of steel,
With baguettes and garlic at my heel.

The hunchback’s house could see my head,
I’m more well known than a certain bread.

I love the colors red, white and blue,
But maybe not as much as you.

I’m a marvel for all to see,
Though to some I am a monstrosity.

What am I?

The Eiffel Tower

Posted in Riddles
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Bank Wait Times

Suppose a small bank has one teller and customer transactions take 10 minutes on average. With 5.8 customers arriving per hour, what is the expected wait time? What would it be if you added a second teller?

With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.

Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Many and One

We are many and one,
We wave and we drum,
We will cover a stare,
With you everywhere.

What are we?

Hands.

Posted in Riddles
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Consecutive Christmas Caroling

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.

How is this possible?

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.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The White Liquid

She awakes. I touch her and she moves her legs. We are both nervous but I continue. Finally the white liquid comes.

What happened?

Milking a cow.

Posted in Riddles
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Plane Crash Off Coast of Mexico

A plane crashed off the coast of Mexico and every single person died, yet there were two survivors. How could that happen?

There was a married couple.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Corny Question

A merchant has 21 sacks of grain: 7 full, 7 half-full and 7 empty. He wants to divide them equally among his three sons. How can he do this, without transferring any grain between sacks, so each son has the same quantity of grain and number of sacks?

We know each son must end up with 7 sacks and 3.5 sacks of grain, since (7 sacks + 7 half sacks) / 3 = 3.5 sacks each.
There are two solutions.

Solution 1
Son 1: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.
Son 2: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.
Son 3: 1 full, 5 half-full and 1 empty.

Solution 2
Son 1: 2 full, 3 half-full and 2 empty.
Son 2: 2 full, 3 half-full and 2 empty.
Son 3: 3 full, 1 half-full and 3 empty.

Posted in Brain Teasers