# How is A Raven like a Writing Desk **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 5, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217 "2011-04-05T01:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@madwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madwriter)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/1 "2011-04-05T01:12:50Z")
My friends and I did Alice in wonderland for our school play and wanted to figure out the answer. After about a month of thinking we figured it out. A raven is like a writing desk because Edgar Allen Poe wrote The Raven on a witingdesk. ``` All the best, madwriter (Natassia Gaines) Lost Creek, WV ``` _ETA: Link to column: [Why is a raven like a writing desk? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk)_ ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/2 "2011-04-05T03:35:31Z")
So a sirloin steak is like a dinner table, because I ate a steak at a table? I think your logic leaves something to be desired. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/3 "2011-04-05T04:47:31Z")
They both made a lot of money for Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/4 "2011-04-05T05:19:34Z")
Actually, that’s an old suggested answer, and its proper form is: “Because Poe wrote on both.” Another suggested answer is: “Because there’s a b in both.” There are a few more old, regular, well-known suggested answers, but it’s late and I can’t remember them. (Yawn.) In one of Jasper Fford’s books, the heroine, Tuesday Next, kept having to answer that question and kept giving different answers. She probably hit all the regulars. I also can’t remember which one of his books it was, so you’ll just have to read them all. There are worse fates. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/5 "2011-04-05T06:08:58Z")
Remember what the Dormouse said. ---
**Author:** ![ffffloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@ffffloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ffffloyd)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/6 "2011-04-05T08:01:20Z")
My favourite answer has already been mentioned by Yllaria: Because there’s a b in both. Those who are quick to rise to an argument are eager to point out that there is no ‘b’ in ‘raven’, nor is there a ‘b’ in ‘writing desk’. However, there is most certainly a ‘b’ in ‘both’. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/7 "2011-04-05T13:06:28Z")
“They both produce very flat notes.” “Neither is an elephant.” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/8 "2011-04-05T16:17:37Z")
They are both known for their inky quills. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/9 "2011-04-05T17:18:57Z")
> [@ffffloyd](#): > > Those who are quick to rise to an argument are eager to point out that there is no ‘b’ in ‘raven’, nor is there a ‘b’ in ‘writing desk’. However, there is most certainly a ‘b’ in ‘both’. My favorite is a variant on the same theme: “because there’s a ‘b’ in both and an ‘n’ in neither.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/10 "2011-04-05T17:21:44Z")
Because neither one can whistle. No, wait, wrong joke. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/11 "2011-04-05T18:50:08Z")
Because it slopes with a flap. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/12 "2011-04-07T04:47:01Z")
As noted in Martin Gardner’s _Annotated Alice_, Lewis Carroll, tied of being constantly asked, gave the following answer in a preface to an 1896 edition: “Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are _very_ flat, and it is nevar put wrong end in front.” Apparently an editor in a late edition “corrected” the spelling in the preface and so a part of that joke was lost. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk/577217/13 "2011-04-07T04:49:49Z")
> [@squidfood](#): > > “Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are _very_ flat, and it is nevar put wrong end in front.” Well, hmm, repeating Cecil there word-for-word, that’s what I get for reading the thread without bothering to read the column.