Ghoti Pronunciation

How do you pronounce Ghoti?

Fish. The gh is pronounced as in tough, the o as in women and the ti as in nation. Ghoti is a constructed word to illustrate irregularities in English spelling.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What is the center of gravity?

What is the center of gravity?

V. The letter ‘v’ is the center of the word gravity.

Posted in Riddles

By Odin’s Beard

Some came from the Sun and Moon,
Others from Thor and his hammer are hewn,

By Odin’s beard, and Frigg and Tiw,
The last is Saturn, from which we grew.

What are we?

They are the origins of the names of each day of the week.

Sunday – Sun day.
Monday – Moon day.
Tuesday – Tiw’s or Týr’s day, the god of single combat, son of Odin.
Wednesday – Woden’s or Odin’s day, god of poetry and of the dead.
Thursday – Thor’s day, god of thunder, son of Odin.
Friday – Frigg’s day, goddess of the clouds, wife of Odin.
Saturday – Saturn’s day, god of fertility and agriculture.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Sentca

Four words can be made from the letters below. What are the words?

S E N T C A

1. ENACTS
2. ASCENT
3. STANCE
4. SECANT

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Does a Cow Have Four Of?

What does a cow have four of, a dog has eight of and you only have two of that can be used standing up or sitting down?

Nipples or teats. Cows have four of them, dogs usually have eight and a human (assuming that’s who’s reading this) has two. Cows milk standing up, dogs often lie down and women usually sit when breastfeeding.

Posted in Riddles

How Are These Countries Ordered?

How are these countries ordered?

1. Canada
2. Indonesia
3. Russia
4. Philippines
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. Norway
8. United States
9. New Zealand
10. China

By kilometers of coastline (according to the CIA World Factbook).

1. Canada – 202,080 km / 125,567 mi
2. Indonesia – 54,716 km / 33,998 mi
3. Russia – 37,653 km / 23,396 mi
4. Philippines – 36,289 km / 22548 mi
5. Japan – 29,751 km / 18,486 mi
6. Australia – 25,760 km / 16,006 mi
7. Norway – 25,148 km / 15,626 mi
8. United States – 19,924 km / 12,380 mi
9. New Zealand – 15,134 km / 9403 mi
10. China – 14,500 km / 9009 mi

Note: Greenland has 44,087 km of coastline but it is not yet a fully independent country.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two More Seconds

Ida puts her coffee into the microwave, as she does every morning, for exactly two minutes. When the microwave goes off, she opens the door, but then closes the door again and sets the microwave for two more seconds. What good would two more seconds be?

To rotate the handle on the mug so she can comfortably remove it.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Kevlar, Fire Escapes and Wipers, Oh My!

What do computer compilers, kevlar, fire escapes and windshield wipers all have in common?

They were all invented by women.

A variation of this brain teaser includes laser printers (they were invented by Gary Starkweather) and bulletproof vests (invented by Casimir Zeglen using silk, though modern vests use Kevlar, so it’s halfway right).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Find The Country Names

How many country names can you find in the following statements?

Don’t reach in a crack in the rocks, there might be snakes in there.
While I was on the highway called the Alcan, a daily occurrence was car breakdowns.
The top social class, as defined by many, is the upper-upper.

Three.

1. China (reaCH IN A)
2. Canada (alCAN A DAily)
3. Peru (upPER-Upper)

Posted in Brain Teasers

Four Legs in the Morning

It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it?

Man (or woman). A baby crawls on all fours, then walks on two legs as an adult and uses two legs and a cane when they’re old.

Posted in Riddles