Peggy’s Shy Parrot

Peggy wanted to buy a talking parrot and went down to the pet shop. She bought a parrot after being assured it would repeat any word or phrase it heard. Peggy bought the parrot and took it home, but it still hadn’t said a word after a few weeks. She returned to the shop to complain, but discovered the original assurances were still accurate. Why didn’t the parrot talk?

It was deaf so it couldn’t hear a phrase to repeat it.

Posted in Brain Teasers

One Am I, Among Six Others

One am I, among six others:
Largest, smallest,
Cold, dark
and two brothers.

Who am I

Europe. Europe is the one among six other continents.

2. North America
3. South America
4. Asia
5. Australia
6. Africa
7. Antarctica

Asia is the largest, Australia is the smallest. Antarctica is cold, Africa is dark-skinned and the Americas are brothers.

This was is said to be written by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known for writing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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

Spell check

Which word is always spelled wrong?

The word “wrong”.

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
Tagged with

A Room With No Windows

You are in a room with no windows, doors or any exit. The only items are a mirror and a table. How do you escape?

Hint: This is not a typical brain teaser.

Look in the mirror, then at the wall and back at the mirror to see what you saw. Use the saw to cut the table in half and join the two halves to make a whole. Put the “hole” on the wall and climb out.

I know, it’s lame. I like to have brain teasers that you can realistically guess, but this one’s so popular, I feel an obligation to include it.

Posted in Brain Teasers
Tagged with

Springiest Anagram

What is the only anagram of Springiest?

Persisting

Posted in Brain Teasers

False Positive HIV Test

Imagine an HIV test that is 95% accurate (false positive rate of 5%) and around 2% of the tested population is infected with HIV. What is the probability that you actually have HIV when your test comes back positive?

29%

To read more about this, see the False Positive Paradox page on Wikipedia.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Iron Horse With A Flaxen Tail

An iron horse with a flaxen tail.
The faster the horse runs,
The shorter his tail becomes.

What is it?

A needle and thread.

Posted in Riddles

Two Tons

If you had a ton of feathers and a ton of stones which would be heavier?

Neither. A ton is a ton, no matter what it’s made up of, and they both weigh a ton.

Posted in Brain Teasers