A Silent Z

What word in the English dictionary has a silent z?

The word rendezvous. Even though it’s a French word, it’s in the English dictionary and is pronounced [rahn-duh-voo].

Turns out rendezvous isn’t the only one. Another word is oyez.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I’m Told and Make You Crazy

I can be told and can make you crazy,
Most people don’t like me and think I’m harmful.

What am I?

A lie. Lies are told, can make people crazy with rage, and most people don’t like to have lies told to them. Lies can’t be harmful though. :) (See what I did there?)

Posted in Riddles

Cheap To Make, Easy To Define

I’m cheap to make and easy to define.
A riverbank could populate the line.

What am I?

A boundary.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

I Make Memories That Last a Lifetime

I make memories that last a lifetime,
Without me you’ll be miserable,
If you miss me you can gourge and it’s okay.
Some say I am naturally split in two.

What am I?

Sleep. It’s the time your mind organizes memories and knowledge. Sleep deprivation is miserable (as you well know if you’ve experienced it). If you miss a few nights of sleep, you can sleep more to catch up with no problems. And some believe that segmented sleep, where you sleep, wake for an hour, then go back to sleep, was the dominant form of sleep before the Industrial Revolution.

Posted in Riddles
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The Sun Bakes Them

The sun bakes them,
The hand breaks them,
The foot treads them,
The mouth tastes them.

Grapes. Grapes are grown in the sun, can be hand picked and crushed by feet (which is sort of gross) to make wine, which is tasted by your mouth when you drink it.

Posted in Riddles

I Am Both Safe and Secure

As a whole, I am both safe and secure.
Behead me, I become a place of meeting.
Behead me again, I am the partner of ready.
Restore me, I become the domain of beasts.

Stable. A table is a place of meeting. Able and ready is a common phrase, and a stable is where beasts reside (beasts of burden, not beasts like the one in Beauty and the Beast who lived in a glorious castle but the west wing was forbidden to enter until Belle…I’ve said too much!).

Posted in Riddles

2 + 2 = 5

What is the similarity between “2 + 2 = 5” and your left hand?

Neither is right. Two plus two equals five isn’t right, or correct and your left hand is not your right hand.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Hand of the Princess

A wise king devised a contest to see who would receive the Princess’ hand in marriage. The Princess was put in a 50 x 50 foot carpeted room. Each of her four suitors were put in one corner of the room with a small box to stand on. The first one to touch the Princess’ hand would be the winner and become the new King.

The rules were the contestants could not walk over the carpet, cross the plane of the carpet, or hang from anything; nor could they use anything but their body and wits (i.e. no magic, telepathy, nor any items such as ladders, block and tackles etc). One suitor figured out a way and married the Princess and became the new King. What did he do?

Asked the princess to touch his hand.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Horses, Sleep and Dreams

What do horses, sleep and dreams have in common?

Nightmares.

Posted in Riddles

I Wear You Down

I wear you down, yet you will mourn me once I fly.
You can kill me, but I will never die.

Time.

(found in The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare)

Posted in Riddles