# Earl of Cork's Enigma **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 2, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390 "2000-05-02T20:55:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/1 "2000-05-02T20:55:18Z")
The thread on the Chevalier de Mere’s Paradox brought up a hazy memory from a back issue of _GAMES_ magazine: [quote] (first line forgotten) **"…add to this some salt and tin. Tell me, ladies; tell me whether In this mixture there is sin?"** [quote] Anyone else ever hear of this? Or know if anyone had proposed a solution? I tried a couple of search engines and got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/2 "2000-05-02T21:03:21Z")
Don’t remember much about it (though I do remember having heard/read the rhyme); it’s a simple riddle, though, for… take some of salt (the letter ‘s’) take some of tin (the letters ‘i’ and ‘n’) and in this mixture, there is… Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/3 "2000-05-03T18:10:51Z")
Yeah, I got that one when I looked at it the first time, but the first line was a couple other ingredients so I figured it had to be more complex than that. Guess not! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/4 "2000-05-04T02:35:54Z")
I’ve never heard this riddle before. My first thought was that it was some anagram of the chemical symbols of tin and [table] salt (Sn and NaCl). Without the other ingredients (if there were any), I can’t think what it might be. ---
**Author:** ![earlito112233](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9adbd/32.png) [@earlito112233](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/earlito112233)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/5 "2011-12-16T08:03:53Z")
[quote=“Olentzero, post:1, topic:18390”] The thread on the Chevalier de Mere’s Paradox brought up a hazy memory from a back issue of _GAMES_ magazine: [quote] (first line forgotten) **“…add to this some salt and tin. Tell me, ladies; tell me whether In this mixture there is sin?”** > [@](#): > > Anyone else ever hear of this? Or know if anyone had proposed a solution? I tried a couple of search engines and got nothing. I can’t believe someone remembers this. My nickname is Earl, which is probably why I have never forgotten this. Yes it was from a Games magazine issue from the 80s. Here is the complete version: **Fire and water mixed together Add to this some salt and tin. Tell me ladies, tell me whether In this mixture there is sin** Don’t know what it means though but it’s stuck with me ever since. I wish I still had that issue of the magazine though. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/6 "2011-12-16T18:58:35Z")
_Fire and Water mix’d together, Add to this some Salt and Tin; Tell me, Ladies, tell me whether In this Mixture there is Sin?_ Riddles intrigue me. With Google I find that this predates Games magazine by at least two centuries, appearing in [the 1756(?) volume of _The Connoisseur_](http://books.google.com/books?id=lQxGAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA26). The entry (by Michael Krawbridge, a pen-name for the [Earl of Cork](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyle,_5th_Earl_of_Cork) ?) implies it’s an “ingenuous” puzzle with a prize, making me doubt that simple S+IN is the intended answer. The entry implies that the 1757(?) _Connoisseur_ will have the solution, but I’m not sure that volume ever existed, let alone is on-line. :smack: Google also shows the riddle in [a 1993 Usenet post in alt.mythology](https://groups.google.com/group/alt.mythology/msg/876109e9cc66a940?hl=en), but without explanation. The two contexts (Krawbridge mentioning “three Graces”) seem to refer to the Pandora myth, which does connect to “Fire and water mixed together” and “sin,” but leaves “some salt and tin” unexplained AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/7 "2011-12-16T19:14:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > _Fire and Water mix’d together, > Add to this some Salt and Tin; > Tell me, Ladies, tell me whether > In this Mixture there is Sin?_ > > Riddles intrigue me. With Google I find that this predates Games magazine by at least two centuries, appearing in [the 1756(?) volume of _The Connoisseur_](http://books.google.com/books?id=lQxGAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA26). It was quoted in an article in Games Magazine about unsolved riddles or something. I also remember the article, although I’m not a big riddle aficianado. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/8 "2011-12-16T19:19:18Z")
> [@earlito112233](#): > > I can’t believe someone remembers this. My nickname is Earl, which is probably why I have never forgotten this. I just want to congratulate you on an excellent first post. You answered an unanswered 11-year-old question. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/9 "2011-12-16T19:35:15Z")
Some anagram of firewatersalttin? I’m too lazy to try to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/10 "2011-12-16T19:54:19Z")
As John Corrado noted above, one possible answer (which was discussed in the Games article) is: fire + water = nothing some salt + some tin = s + in nothing + s + in = sin ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/11 "2011-12-16T20:04:14Z")
Salt is famously effective against zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/12 "2011-12-16T20:15:18Z")
Moving to the Game Room from GQ. Note that this thread was started in 2000. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earl-of-corks-enigma/18390/13 "2011-12-16T20:52:01Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Salt is famously effective against zombies. Zombie snails maybe