Say My Name

Say my name and I disappear. What am I?

Silence.

An alternate version is, “What is so fragile it breaks when you say its name?”

Posted in Riddles

Have No Face

I turn my head and you may go where you want.
I turn it again, you will stay till you rot.
I have no face, but I live or die,
By my crooked teeth.

What am I?

A key

Posted in Riddles

Probability That Both Children Are Girls

Walking down the street one day, I met a woman strolling with her daughter. “What a lovely child,” I remarked. “In fact, I have a younger child as well,” she replied.

What is the probability that both of her children are girls?

1/2 probability. This has been know to cause raging debates and is known as one of the variations of the Boy or Girl paradox. This variation is more straightforward because knowing the position of the child leaves only two possibilities – the other child is a boy or a girl, each of which have a 1/2 probability.

Another variation of this can be found here.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Short Black Dress

In the day I stand tall in a white petticoat. By evening I’m in my short black dress. What am I?

The wick of a candle.

Posted in Riddles

You Read Me Daily

I am a seven letter word, you read me daily. Letters 567 increase every year. The third and fourth letters are the same and my 325 letters cover about 70% of the world. What am I?

message. Letters 567 are your age, which goes up every year. Letters 3 and 4 (both s) are in fact the same, and letters 325 spell sea, and estimates say that the earth is covered by about 70% water.

Posted in Riddles

Kings And Lords And Christians Raised Them

Kings and lords and christians raised them
Since they stand for higher powers
Yet few of them would stand, I’m certain,
If women ruled this world of ours.

A tower.

Posted in Riddles

The Train and the Tunnel

A train is a half mile long and is about to enter a 10 mile tunnel. If the train is traveling at 35mph, how long will it take for the entire train to make it through the tunnel, from the front of the train entering to the end of the train leaving the tunnel?

18 minutes.

Length of the train: 0.5 miles
Length of the tunnel: 10 miles
Total distance: 0.5 + 10 = 10.5 miles

Time = 10.5 miles / 35 mph = 0.3 hours = 18 minutes

Posted in Brain Teasers

Blame the Couple

A married couple is traveling by bus on dangerous mountain roads. Midway through their journey the bus stops for snacks and a restroom break. The couple is enjoying the postcards in the store when the bus driver curtly tells them it’s past time to leave. Fifteen minutes after, the bus is hit by a mud slide and two people are killed. The couple blames themselves for the deaths. Why?

They blame themselves because they caused the bus to be late. If they had been on time, the bus would have already passed the location of the mud slide.

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

I Go Around In Circles

I go around in circles,
But always straight ahead
Never complain,
No matter where I am led.

A wheel.

Posted in Riddles