# Can't solve a riddle...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 25, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888 "2003-01-25T18:37:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/1 "2003-01-25T18:37:38Z")

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Anyone else have any clues?

“What goes up a chimney down, but won’t go down a chimney up?”

gluck 🙂

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/2 "2003-01-25T18:39:33Z")

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An umbrella. (Don’t ask me why anyone would stuff an umbrella in a chimney, but that’s the answer I’ve always heard to this one.)

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**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/3 "2003-01-25T18:47:53Z")

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naha, thnx 🙂

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/4 "2003-01-25T18:48:20Z")

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Smoke

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**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/5 "2003-01-25T19:40:48Z")

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An umbrella

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**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/6 "2003-01-25T20:50:58Z")

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smoke makes no sense **reeder**

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/7 "2003-01-25T21:50:36Z")

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How do you get down off a chimney?

You don’t get down off a chimney, you get down off a duck.

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**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/8 "2003-01-25T23:58:04Z")

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Bah.

You don’t get down off a duck. You get down _from_ a duck. As in, \*\* You don’t get down from an elephant, you get down from a duck\*\*.

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**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-solve-a-riddle/150888/9 "2003-01-26T00:20:07Z")

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Sounds like Ezstrete has it right. An umbrella is correct.