# James Randi puzzle **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643 "2001-05-07T13:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/1 "2001-05-07T13:30:15Z")
Help me out here. He has a new puzzle every week on his page. This one is: Fine three English words that have no rhyme. All are nouns and adjectives. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/2 "2001-05-07T13:35:28Z")
“Orange” is, of course, well known. I’ll think about the others… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/3 "2001-05-07T13:37:17Z")
orange purple silver ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/4 "2001-05-07T13:41:45Z")
orange, silver, purple ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/5 "2001-05-07T13:42:56Z")
Dammit. Good reflexes, Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/6 "2001-05-07T14:08:08Z")
Thank you from the heart of my bottom… ---
**Author:** ![Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer_Named_Fisk)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/7 "2001-05-07T14:16:03Z")
OK: “That ripe orange sure looks orange” [check] “That hunk of silver sure looks silver” [check] “That ??? purple sure looks purple” ??? I fail to see how purple is a noun. Except in the trivial cases that all words can be nouns, i.e. by using it as the subject/object of a sentence. But even in these cases, the meaning of the word is still an adjective right? Unlike orange, which is a fruit, and silver, which is a metal. Please enlighten me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/8 "2001-05-07T14:24:32Z")
Ancient emperors wore “the purple.” Meaning imperial vestments dyed with the _Murex_ extract. A simple dictionary lookup s.v. **purple** , noting the definition preceded by the abbreviation _n._ (noun) would have told you that. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/9 "2001-05-07T14:33:10Z")
Use it in a sentence, Jomo. All right: When we watched _I, Claudius_, Aunt Sadie Mae remarked, “Gee whillikers, that purple he’s wearing looks red to me! Better adjust the color on the set!” Actually, the _Murex_ purple was a deep, slightly purplish, red. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/10 "2001-05-14T14:48:17Z")
Apparently, he was looking for orange, silver, and velvet! [http://www.randi.org/jr/05-11-2001.html](http://www.randi.org/jr/05-11-2001.html) ---
**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 14, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/11 "2001-05-14T15:01:01Z")
The OP said that Adjectives were OK, so there’s no problem with “purple” anyway. It’s not a noun or an adjective, but I recall the Ripley’s Believe it or Not folks pointing out years ago that there is no rhyme for “oblige”. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/12 "2001-05-14T15:04:24Z")
Chimney? Antidisestablishmentarianism? ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/13 "2001-05-14T15:06:21Z")
Oh wait, nouns AND adjectives. I get it now. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/14 "2001-05-14T15:09:09Z")
and by the by…when I was in highchool, my friend signed my yearbook thusly: Someday when you’re old and purple, you’ll remember the girl who wrote in a circle. It’s not a perfect rhyme, but it flows nicely. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Usurer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2acd7d/32.png) [@Usurer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Usurer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/15 "2001-05-14T17:00:55Z")
Nothing rhymes with “April”. At least that’s what the poem says… ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-puzzle/64643/16 "2001-05-14T23:43:01Z")
I had heard somewhere that there’s no rhyme for the word “oblige.” But then, that’s a voib.