# Solve this Riddle! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508 "2003-11-16T04:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/41 "2003-11-17T06:25:42Z")
**Alan Smithee** : A man starts out from home. He goes a little ways and turns left. Then he goes a little ways and turns left again. He goes a little ways and turns left yet again. As he comes home, two men with masks are waiting for him. Who are these people? I’m not sure if I wrote it out right, but that’s the general idea. I don’t know the other two, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/42 "2003-11-17T06:30:24Z")
Nowhwere. You don’t bury survivors ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/43 "2003-11-17T08:43:39Z")
He was a lighthouse attendant. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/44 "2003-11-17T09:05:46Z")
So what is the riddle with “String” as the answer. I thought I’d heard all of these beasties… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/45 "2003-11-17T09:09:05Z")
White, it was a polar bear, he could only have been at the North or South Pole, there are no bears at the South Pole. ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/46 "2003-11-17T15:45:33Z")
6 x 9 = 42 is correct if you work in base 13 \we know dolphins talk in trinary\, but what do they count in? ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/47 "2003-11-17T15:57:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johncole \* > \*\*\we know dolphins talk in trinary\, but what do they count in? \*\* Their heads, since they don’t have fingers. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/48 "2003-11-17T17:41:12Z")
It isn’t fair to ask what it’s got in its nasty pocketsess… and he was visiting his wife who was on life support and it was a poison popsicle and he was scuba diving and sucked into the forestfirefighting helicopter tank. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/49 "2003-11-17T17:54:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\*So what is the riddle with “String” as the answer. I thought I’d heard all of these beasties… \*\* “What has it got in its pocketses?” String, BTW, is a wrong answer. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/50 "2003-11-17T19:25:27Z")
Okay, here’s my stupid riddle. A man walks into a bar (ouch!) and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a shotgun. The man thanks the bartender and leaves. What happened? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/51 "2003-11-17T19:33:43Z")
Hiccups cure. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/52 "2003-11-17T20:15:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Super Gnat \* > \*\ ***Alan Smithee** : A man starts out from home. He goes a little ways and turns left. Then he goes a little ways and turns left again. He goes a little ways and turns left yet again. As he comes home, two men with masks are waiting for him. Who are these people? > > I’m not sure if I wrote it out right, but that’s the general idea. > \*\* I always heard it as “The man was afraid to go home because the man in the mask was there. Who was the man in the mask?” Much less solvable than in your version. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/53 "2003-11-17T20:39:36Z")
The original factual question has been answered, so I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/54 "2003-11-17T20:45:22Z")
The word is “languagegry”. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/55 "2003-11-17T20:59:37Z")
Another Jeopardy question for **Alan Smithee** , answered by **Chronos** : The one who made it didn’t need it, the one who bought it didn’t want it, the one who used it didn’t know it. For anyone in need of groats: A cherry, a nettle, smoke, “as many red herrings as grow in the wood”, plum pudding, bees, an egg, a sunbeam, the wind. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/56 "2003-11-17T22:00:40Z")
Panama Jack: a coffin The answer to the riddle somebody’s about to ask is **one**. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/57 "2003-11-17T22:42:33Z")
Hey, I don’t know if anyone knows this one, but what’s five minus four? ---
**Author:** ![swami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@swami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swami)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/58 "2003-11-17T23:11:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Hey, I don’t know if anyone knows this one, but what’s five minus four? \*\* Banana! ---
**Author:** ![SanguineSpider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SanguineSpider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanguineSpider)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/59 "2003-11-18T03:58:59Z")
Why do monkeys fling poo? ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508/60 "2003-11-18T04:12:16Z")
Belated thanks to all who provided the posthumous set-ups to my answers. I couldn’t have done better myself. Re: the albatross: **Chronos** nailed it, but to clarify: When he tasted the albatross AT THE RESTAURANT it was quite different from the albatross he ate on the island after the shipwreck (in which his wife died). He put 2 and 2 together and realized what had happened. I love this thread! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solve-this-riddle/213508.md?page=4)