In Times Of War He Burns Asunder

Man walks over, man walks under,
In times of war he burns asunder.

What is it?

A bridge.

Posted in Riddles

Ex-Spouse’s Former Daughter-In-Law

What do you call your ex-spouse’s former daughter-in-law’s first husband’s daughter?

You can call them whatever you want, but they have no familial relationship to you.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville shaves all men living in Seville.
No man living in Seville is allowed to shave himself.
The Barber of Seville lives in Seville.

Who shaves the Barber of Seville?

Nobody. The Barber of Seville is a woman. Female barbers are rare, but they exist.

And for more fun with barbers, check out the Barber paradox.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Pronounced Right or Wrong

What word when pronounced wrong is right but when pronounced right is wrong?

The answer is the word “wrong”. When it’s pronounced “wrong” (rhyming with song) that’s the correct pronunciation. However, if you were to pronounce the word as “right” (rhyming with night) that would be an incorrect pronunciation and be wrong.

Posted in Riddles

English and Afrikaans

What is a six-word sentence that has the same meaning and spelling in both English and Afrikaans?

My pen is in my hand. It’s not all that meaningful of a sentence, but it’s the same in English and Afrikaans.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The More You Run

The more you run, the harder I am to catch. What am I?

Your breath.

Posted in Riddles

Four Gallons From Two Buckets

You have two buckets. One holds exactly five gallons and the other three gallons. How can you measure exactly four gallons of water into the five gallon bucket?

Assume you have an unlimited supply of water and that there are no measurement markings of any kind on the buckets.

  1. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
  2. Pour the 3 gallons of water into the 5-gallon bucket
  3. Fill the 3-gallon bucket again.
  4. Fill up the 5-gallon bucket with the 3-gallon bucket, leaving you with 1 gallon left in the 3-gallon bucket.
  5. Empty out the 5-gallon bucket.
  6. Pour the remaining 1 gallon of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket.
  7. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
  8. Pour the 3 gallons of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket leaving you with 4 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket.

Alternate solution:

  1. Fill up the 5 gallon bucket
  2. Pour it into 3 gallon bucket, leaving 2 gallons
  3. Empty out the 3 gallon bucket
  4. Pour the 2 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket into the 3 gallon bucket
  5. Fill up the 5 gallon bucket and pour it into the 3 gallon bucket until it’s full, leaving 4 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket.
Posted in Brain Teasers

Seemingly Simple Math

What is the answer to this math problem:

8 ÷ 2 (2 + 2)

16 or 1, depending.

According to PEMDAS, parentheses come first: 8 ÷ 2 (4)

Then, even though multiplication is first in PEMDAS, you go left to right: 4 (4) = 16

If you got 1, you’re in good company. That’s what I got at first too but most calculators I’ve tried get 16.

I found this at Popular Mechanics and the debate continues online.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Big Pizza Pie

To get the most pizza, should you order two 12″ pizzas or one 18″ pie?

One 18″, with ~255 sumptuous square inches. Two 12″ pizzas would only give you ~226 square inches.

Note: The area of a circle is = πr2.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Add Two To Eleven To Get One

When can you add two to eleven and get one as the correct answer?

When you add two hours to eleven o’clock to get one o’clock.

Posted in Riddles