# I need a riddle **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831 "2005-05-21T01:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/41 "2005-05-23T18:18:15Z")
My favorite riddles: Q. What’s brown and sticky? A stick! Q. What’s a foot long and slippery? A slipper! Q. What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back when you throw it? A stick! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/42 "2005-05-23T18:31:27Z")
Thanks, CalMeacham. According to [this site](http://www.tourettes-disorder.com/extra/riddles.html): \*Homer was a 9th century Greek poet. Remember Homer’s Odyssey? After the Trojan war a king had a long journey home facing monsters, magic, and enchantresses. Well, legend has it that Homer killed himself because he could not answer a simple riddle spoken by Greek fishermen below. • What we caught we threw away; what we didn’t catch, we kept.\* It was the fishermen part that led me to think it was fishing nets. But I figured the idiom didn’t date back that long. 😉 Apparently ‘lice’ is also an acceptable answer. 😕 But I guess you shouldn’t just replace any parasitic noun in there. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/43 "2005-05-23T18:36:32Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > What is it that, the more you cut it the longer it grows? Ahhhh. Must be A wound. Not that anyone would cut their own… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/44 "2005-05-23T18:42:04Z")
If you want riddles that people won’t really find amusing (because they don’t tell them like this anymore), you could always try the Exeter Book Riddles: [http://www.technozen.com/exeter/](http://www.technozen.com/exeter/) On the plus side, some of them are risque, in a “Turtles” kind of way. (They sound dirty, but have “innocent” answers). On the other hand, too many of them (at least in the Penguin translation I have) have as their answer “Creation”. I imagine this Medieval king threatening to cut off his court jester’s body parts if the answer to the riddle turns out to be 'Creation" one more time. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/45 "2005-05-23T18:45:59Z")
some of the risque riddles: [http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/flowers/enigmata.html](http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/flowers/enigmata.html) ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/46 "2005-05-23T19:17:31Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > What is it that, the more you cut it the longer it grows? A fart. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/47 "2005-05-23T20:35:15Z")
> [@exastris](#): > > I saw this one around these parts not too long ago. It makes me laugh out loud. > > _What is orange and sounds like a parrot?_ > > A carrot. A good followup: What’s invisible and smells like a carrot? rabbit farts Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831/48 "2005-05-23T21:48:41Z")
A dumb riddle I made up and that an eleven-year-old should appreciate: Q: Why is Lincoln’s head on the penny?Because if it was his feet you wouldn’t know who it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-riddle/304831.md?page=2)