# Unsolved Riddle from 1873 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530 "2013-04-12T18:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/21 "2013-04-12T21:05:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Whales don’t die in water, either - they live there. > > _:shrug:_ > > I like “what have I got in my pocket” better. > > Regards, > Shodan They are also an air-breathing mammal fully capable of drowning in the wrong circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/22 "2013-04-12T21:21:45Z")
Piano springs were sometimes made of baleen. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/23 "2013-04-12T21:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard, > Yet in Orchestra never was seen. When did we first learn that whales sing? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/24 "2013-04-13T01:03:09Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > When did we first learn that whales sing? Early whaling crews could hear them through the hulls of their ships. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/25 "2013-04-13T01:12:27Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > When did we first learn that whales sing? The “solution” in the link I posted claims that “Orca” is Latin for whale - and presumably this is a play on words. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/26 "2013-04-13T23:10:32Z")
I saw this riddle in some science magazine (Discover?) in the 1980s/1990s/, and “orca” was the best guess they had, and that it being a play on words. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/27 "2013-04-13T23:27:51Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I saw this riddle in some science magazine (Discover?) in the 1980s/1990s/, and “orca” was the best guess they had, and that it being a play on words. Maybe OMNI? In the link I posted - there is a reference to that magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/28 "2013-04-14T00:24:09Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Maybe OMNI? In the link I posted - there is a reference to that magazine. Yeah, probably. ---
**Author:** ![shawnahen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@shawnahen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shawnahen)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/29 "2014-05-31T05:44:16Z")
A flower? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/30 "2014-05-31T06:15:09Z")
You might narrow it down to Orca… The Finest colours. Its not clear why dark is so dangerous, but of course all life requires the suns energy ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/31 "2014-05-31T06:24:45Z")
I don’t know the answer, but let’s keep in mind that Bishop Samuel Wilberforce was a fierce opponent of Darwin’s theories, enjoyed streaking, and [looked like this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Wilberforce_by_Mowbray_of_Oxford.jpg) when he was making up riddles. It may be possible that the answer to this riddle is something ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/32 "2014-05-31T06:36:59Z")
> [@core\_dump](#): > > Dead whale = whale oil = light. ‘Darkness destroys me’ is reaching, but hey it fits. Darkness is what created the demand for whale oil (to burn in lamps) and hence led to commercial whaling. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/33 "2014-05-31T06:38:24Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > I don’t know the answer, but let’s keep in mind that Bishop Samuel Wilberforce was a fierce opponent of Darwin’s theories, enjoyed streaking, and [looked like this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Wilberforce_by_Mowbray_of_Oxford.jpg) when he was making up riddles. You don’t have to believe in evolution to recognize that a whale is a mammal, do you? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/34 "2014-05-31T06:57:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You don’t have to believe in evolution to recognize that a whale is a mammal, do you? :dubious: I wasn’t trying to make the point you’re taking from my statement. I was saying the guy was nutso so based on his belief system the answer could be “A magic thing that meets all these criteria. Ha! Hahaha!” It could be ‘whale’ but that seems like an attempt to find something that can be twisted around to fit despite it requiring a lot of imagination and a forgiving interpretation of the language. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/35 "2014-05-31T07:22:14Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > all life requires the suns energy Not the life clustered around deep sea chemical vents. [Life around hydrothermal vents](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/hellscrust/html/sidebar2.html), where all energy ultimately comes from the Earth itself, not the Sun. [Some black smokers have giant tube worms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_tube_worm) and I’m apparently still twelve years old. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/36 "2014-05-31T08:48:21Z")
“Gay plumage”? It’s hard to think of an animal that phrase fits _less_ than whales. Even those insects and mammals that are not gaily colored are closer to plumed than the sleek whales. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/37 "2014-05-31T09:52:18Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > “Gay plumage”? It’s hard to think of an animal that phrase fits _less_ than whales. Even those insects and mammals that are not gaily colored are closer to plumed than the sleek whales. The - rhyming - answer [here](http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Riddles/Question1135925.html) says “and as for gay plumage, my feathers be one – / The plume from my blowhole, iridescent in sun.” Sounds a little far-fetched, but hey. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/38 "2014-05-31T11:37:11Z")
I’m convinced it’s a whale/orca but damn if that’s a disatisfying answer. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/39 "2014-05-31T14:15:34Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > The - rhyming - answer [here](http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Riddles/Question1135925.html) says “and as for gay plumage, my feathers be one – / The plume from my blowhole, iridescent in sun.” Sounds a little far-fetched, but hey. “Feather” used to mean [(a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one’s self conspicuous.[Colloq.]](http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=feather&use1913=on&use1828=on) (Webster’s, 1910) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/40 "2014-05-31T14:22:06Z")
As for “bird” (also 1913, which is what the above post should have said but I missed the edit window): > [@](#): > > Bird (?), v. i. > > 1. To catch or shoot birds. > > 2. Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530.md?page=3)