Built From Anything You Don’t Like

I’m built from anything you don’t like,
You’re using me right now in fact,
I am one but represent many,
When attacked I’m easily cracked,
I’m created in seconds but live forever
And though you may not understand,
I’ll help you do well but be careful my friend,
Hurt me and you won’t withstand.

What am I?

Character (or characters).

Kids are often told, when dealing with unpleasant things, that it builds character. You’re reading the characters this riddle is written with. In computer science a char is often represented by one byte and can store any character you want.

When politicians have their character besmirched it can swiftly change the voting public’s mind about them. Characters in novels are created with a few lines but live on in our memories. And if your character or reputation is damaged, you may find it hard to deal with the aftermath.

And here’s a great quote from Warren Buffet on your character.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffet

Posted in Riddles

Seven Letter Word with Ten Words

There is a seven-letter word in the English language that has ten total words without rearranging any of its letters.

What is the word?

Therein

1. the
2. there
3. he
4. in
5. rein
6. her
7. here
8. ere
9. herein
10. therein

Posted in Brain Teasers

Copying Cassette Tapes

Joe and Andrea want to copy three 60-minute cassette tapes. They have a 2-cassette recorder to copy the tapes, allowing them to copy two tapes at a time. Each side takes 30 minutes to be copied, so two tapes can be copied in an hour and the third will take another hour. Andrea bets Joe she can copy all three tapes in 90 minutes. Does she win the bet?

In the first 30 minutes Andrea copies the A sides of tape 1 and 2.
In the second 30 minutes, she copies tape 1 side B and tape 3 side A (finishing Tape 1).
In the last 30 minutes, she copies tape 2 side B and tape 3 side B.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Five Letters and People Eat Me

I have five letters and people eat me. When you remove my first letter I become a crime. Remove my first two letters and I am an animal. If you remove my first and last letters I’m a form of music.

What am I?

Grape

Grape = a fruit people eat
rape = a crime
ape = an animal
rap = a category of music

Posted in Riddles

Dark Halloween Night

On a dark, stormy Halloween night, four kids named Luke, John, Sarah and Bob walk into a haunted house during a blackout. Only one can escape. They take a staircase to the second floor, a trapdoor on the left, then go up the ladder to the right, followed by a 28-foot slide to the basement through the mouth of a Giant Panda. In one corner of the murky cellar is a chainsaw, a dagger, a rope with a noose and an electric chair. Written on the wall in blood are the words, “Only one will survive – choose your death!” Bob takes the rope, Sarah picks up the dagger, John chooses the chainsaw and Luke uses the chair.

Who survives?

Luke, because there’s no power (it’s during a blackout).

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

Frederick’s Epitaph

Frederick died after a long and productive life of 87 years, but this epitaph was written on his headstone:

Frederick lived a good long life,
He loved his children and his wife,

He was honest, kind and deserved nothing but praise,
Even if he only had twenty-one birthdays.

How is this possible?

He was born on February 29th in a leap year. Consequently, in his 87 years, he only witnessed twenty-one of his actual birthdays. The other years there was no February 29th.

Posted in Brain Teasers

If You Lose Me

If you lose me, others around you may lose me too. What am I?

Your temper.

Posted in Riddles
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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

The Camel Race

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What did the wise man say?

The wise man said to switch camels.

Each son owns a camel, let’s call them Camel A and Camel B. If Camel A is slower, son A gets the fortune. If Camel B is slower, son B gets the fortune. Neither of the sons want to enter the city first because they won’t get the fortune.

When they switch camels, son A is now riding his brother’s camel (camel B) and son B is riding his brother’s camel (camel A). Now, they each want the camel they’re riding to get to the city first. If son A wins the race on camel B, that means his camel, camel A, was slower and he wins the fortune. The same is true for the other way around if the second son wins the race on camel A.

Posted in Brain Teasers