I am the owner of a pet store. If I put in one canary per cage, I have one bird too many. If I put in two canaries per cage, I have one cage too many. How many cages and canaries do I have?
If you put one canary in each cage, you have an extra bird without a cage. However, if you put two canaries in each cage then you have two canaries in the first cage, two canaries in the second cage and an extra cage.
Often talked of, never seen, Ever coming, never been, Daily looked for, never here, Still approaching, coming near, Thousands for it’s visit wait, But alas for their fate, Tho’ they expect me to appear, They will never find me here.
Finley’s friends all chipped in to buy her a wedding gift. At first, ten friends agreed to contribute the same amount. Then two “friends” dropped out. The remaining eight had to add another dollar each to cover the cost of the gift. How much did the gift cost?
Chuck and Ruby were going to meet at a hotel for their anniversary dinner, but Ruby didn’t show. Chuck was angry and left her a passive aggressive message on their kitchen table in the form of fifteen matchsticks spelling “hotel” and went to bed. When Ruby got home and saw the matchsticks, she removed one and went to bed. When Chuck woke up the next morning and saw Ruby’s new message, he realized his mistake. Which stick did Ruby remove and what was the new message?
Ruby had removed the top of the T and the new message could be seen upside down from where Chuck sat at his breakfast of sadness and anger. What he saw was 7 3 1 0 4, or 7/31/04, the date of their anniversary. In his excitement, Chuck had gone to the restaurant a day early, on July 30th. All was forgiven by both parties and Chuck and Ruby had a wonderful dinner together. They also promised to buy a whiteboard for the kitchen so they wouldn’t have to use matchstick messages ever again.
He and she both have one each, but every person has two. A citizen has three and a human being has four. A personality has five and an inhabitant of earth has six. What are they?
