A Big Family Photo

A family photo has the following:
1 grandfather, 1 grandmother
2 fathers, 2 mothers
6 children, 4 grandchildren
2 brothers, 2 sisters
3 sons, 3 daughters
1 father-in-law, 1 mother-in-law
1 daughter-in-law

It could show 29 different people, but what is the smallest number of people if could have?

Eight. 4 children, their mother and father and one set of grandparents.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Whelming Rebus

What does this represent?

 1 3 5 7 9
-----------
 WHELMING

Overwhelming odds.

Posted in Riddles
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Tongue Can’t Taste, Throat Can’t Swallow

What has a tongue that can’t taste, a throat that can’t swallow, eyes that can’t see and a soul that will never die?

A shoe. It has a tongue, a throat, eyes (or eyelets) and a sole. I used soul here or else it would have given the answer away, but this riddle works best when told rather than read. And as the joke goes, old shoes never die, they just lose their sole.

Posted in Riddles

An Apparition

Two people were in a house. No one came in or went out, but then there were three people. What happened?

The two people were a husband and an expectant wife, who gave birth to her baby.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Fifty Quarters

You have fifty quarters on the table in front of you. You are blindfolded and cannot discern whether a coin is heads up or tails up by feeling it. You are told that x coins are heads up, where 0 < x < 50. You are asked to separate the coins into two piles in such a way that the number of heads up coins in both piles is the same at the end. You may flip any coin over as many times as you want.

How can you do it?

Take x coins, flip all of them and put them in one pile. The rest of the coins form the second pile.

Posted in Brain Teasers

At Birth It Can’t Start Nor By Death Is It Ended

More precious than gold, but cannot be bought,
Can never be sold, only earned if it’s sought,
If it is broken it can still can be mended,
At birth it can’t start nor by death is it ended.

Friendship. It is more precious than gold to have a genuine friend, and true friendship cannot be bought or sold, only earned. When a friendship is broken it can be fixed and infants aren’t able to make friends until they’re older, but death can’t end it. Love doesn’t work as an answer because a friendship requires two people to interact, while parents love their children as soon as they’re born.

Posted in Riddles

In Your Body Free the First Two Times

What is in your body for free the first and the second time but the third time you have to buy yourself?

Your teeth. You get baby teeth and adult teeth as part of the life package, but once you lose those you get to pay for dentures (or scare small children with your sunken face).

Posted in Riddles

I’m Usually Quite Pleasant

I’m usually quite pleasant
As you roam and play,
But if you look into my eyes,
I’ll not look away.

Once you turn away from me,
I’ll attack if I stay dry,
Better grab a pail of water,
I’ll not stop until I die.

What am I?

An Enderman, from Minecraft.

Enderman are normally passive, but they become hostile if a player looks directly at them. The Enderman will stare back until the player looks away, and then attack the player. A bucket of water is the best way to defeat an Enderman.

Posted in Riddles

Scrambled Auctioned

What are two other words (anagrams) that can be made from the letters in “auctioned”?

1. Cautioned
2. Education

Posted in Brain Teasers

Up a Drainpipe Down but Not Down a Drainpipe Up

What can go up a drainpipe down but not down a drainpipe up?

An umbrella.

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