# Got this riddle..need help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780 "2008-07-25T21:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SystematicChaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@SystematicChaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SystematicChaos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/1 "2008-07-25T21:21:37Z")
So my creative writing teacher gave me this riddle…i am not sure what the answer is…can you help me? Adults are holding children, waiting their turn. The children are handed (one at a time, usually) to a man, who holds them while a woman shoots them. If the child is crying, the man tries to stop the crying before the child is shot. Why is this happening? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/2 "2008-07-25T21:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=SystematicChaos] So my creative writing teacher gave me this riddle…i am not sure what the answer is…can you help me? Adults are holding children, waiting their turn. The children are handed (one at a time, usually) to a man, who holds them while a woman shoots them. If the child is crying, the man tries to stop the crying before the child is shot. Why is this happening? [/QUOTE] Pictures with Santa. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/3 "2008-07-25T21:22:41Z")
They’re getting vaccinations? ETA: **Joey P** ’s answer makes far more sense. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/4 "2008-07-25T21:22:59Z")
They’re getting flu shots or something. That took me about two seconds; I’d guess it’s correct. Edit: I like **Joey’s** answer too. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/5 "2008-07-25T21:23:44Z")
They are getting pictures with Santa. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/6 "2008-07-25T21:23:54Z")
The woman is a nurse? ---
**Author:** ![SystematicChaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@SystematicChaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SystematicChaos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/7 "2008-07-25T21:26:46Z")
i think joey is probably right…well that was helpful…i hate these things…i got a whole 2 sided paper with them. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/8 "2008-07-25T21:28:13Z")
The Duggars finally snapped. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/9 "2008-07-25T21:29:24Z")
Weird. I knew this one before I had even read half of it. Could it be because I’m a parent? Or did I just get lucky this time? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/10 "2008-07-25T21:33:06Z")
That’s a riddle? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/11 "2008-07-25T21:33:18Z")
I thought it was pretty obvious, too…and I first thought photographer. Who uses the word “shoot” for a vaccine? Shooting up, maybe, but not for giving a kid a vaccine. Santa makes sense–that’s probably why it’s specified as being a man, and not just a person. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/12 "2008-07-25T21:35:47Z")
I didn’t understand the riddle, or rather why it was a riddle. Given the setting, it didn’t occur to me at first that it could be interpreted as something other than a vaccine shot. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/13 "2008-07-25T21:40:00Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I thought it was pretty obvious, too…and I first thought photographer. Who uses the word “shoot” for a vaccine? [/QUOTE] I interpreted it is using a word that might not be used commonly for something, but would make sense in some sort of way. But then I don’t use “shoot” for taking pictures either. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/14 "2008-07-25T21:44:18Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I thought it was pretty obvious, too…and I first thought photographer. Who uses the word “shoot” for a vaccine? Shooting up, maybe, but not for giving a kid a vaccine. Santa makes sense–that’s probably why it’s specified as being a man, and not just a person. [/QUOTE] Shoot is a derived from the word shot but with different meaning so it would be a play on words associated with a riddle. I thought of the vaccine thing right away but the part where it says the children are usually handed one at a time implies that 2 or more could be handed over. Santa usually gets 1 child but sometimes gets 2. It makes more sense than getting shots because either 1 person is giving shots or more than 1 person is giving shots. I remember standing in line when I was a kid to get vaccinated and I still have the scar after 45 years. ---
**Author:** ![\_Stewie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/51bf81/32.png) [@\_Stewie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Stewie)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/15 "2008-07-25T21:49:52Z")
I remember we used to play with riddles like theses when we were kids on car trips. Everyone had to figure out the riddle by asking yes or no questions: A man with 53 bicycles is shot dead, why? Two men are found dead in a cabin in the middle of the woods, how’d they die? A man turns on his car radio and immediately pulls over to the side of the road to commit suicide, why? (I never realized how morbid these all were.) ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/16 "2008-07-25T21:51:24Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] Santa usually gets 1 child but sometimes gets 2. It makes more sense than getting shots because either 1 person is giving shots or more than 1 person is giving shots. ears. [/QUOTE] Also that someone is trying to make them stop crying. Doctors don’t give a crap whether babies are crying during shots or not, only if they hold still long enough to get the job done. Different story for pics. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/17 "2008-07-25T21:55:38Z")
You’re not doing homework here, are you? 🙂 ---
**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:** [July 25, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/18 "2008-07-25T22:10:45Z")
[QUOTE=_ **Stewie** _] I remember we used to play with riddles like theses when we were kids on car trips. Everyone had to figure out the riddle by asking yes or no questions: A man with 53 bicycles is shot dead, why? Two men are found dead in a cabin in the middle of the woods, how’d they die? A man turns on his car radio and immediately pulls over to the side of the road to commit suicide, why? (I never realized how morbid these all were.) [/QUOTE] Nowadays these are called **lateral thinking puzzles.** Googling should turn up a bunch. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/19 "2008-07-25T22:11:33Z")
It gets worse. After she shoots them, she blows them up and hangs them. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780/20 "2008-07-25T22:12:17Z")
Some of them are cool, like the cabin one…but ones like the radio are kind of a stretch. It’s not like anyone could actually solve them, and they’re so out there that the twist is a bit dumb… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-this-riddle-need-help/457780.md?page=2)