# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/41 "2014-05-31T14:39:09Z")
Isn’t this just a variation of “Why is a whale like a writing desk?” Oh, wait, wrong riddler. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/42 "2014-05-31T14:55:06Z")
> [@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. I think the plume of water from the blowhole is the best explanation, but it might be another reference to whalebone corsets-- they were the “best” corsets, and the women who could afford them had the fanciest dresses, which could be pretty ornate in Victorian times. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/43 "2014-05-31T15:04:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You don’t have to believe in evolution to recognize that a whale is a mammal, do you? :dubious: It has been many years since I read _Moby Dick_, but I recall that Melville spent quite a few paragraphs on the debate over whether whales were mammals or fishes. (I think Ishmael decided they were mammals, but I could be misremembering.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/44 "2014-05-31T15:22:41Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > … but of course all life requires the suns energy > [@Derleth](#): > > 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. Well, _technically_, that heat energy ultimately came from the solar nebula from which the Earth’s matter formed, so… ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/45 "2014-05-31T15:53:22Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > Eventually, they die. Eventually, all living things will die. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/46 "2014-05-31T18:09:11Z")
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/47 "2014-05-31T18:11:08Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Eventually, all living things will die. > **[Halting Problem](https://xkcd.com/1266/)** ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/48 "2014-06-03T13:37:40Z")
I’m pretty sure the answer is 14 k of g in a f p d, and the ‘g’ stands for “Gorbachev”. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/49 "2014-06-03T13:44:17Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? With the help of a swallow. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/50 "2014-06-03T17:15:56Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Is that a whale in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? I want to get one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-trade-External-Portable-Drive/dp/B005CP2OAC/ref=pd_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AXN7G5B3YKBZ7TK51FD), just so my wife can ask, “Is that a terabyte in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/51 "2014-06-03T21:00:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It has been many years since I read _Moby Dick_, but I recall that Melville spent quite a few paragraphs on the debate over whether whales were mammals or fishes. (I think Ishmael decided they were mammals, but I could be misremembering.) No, he makes the argument that they’re fish, while recognizing that zoologists disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/52 "2014-06-04T03:10:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It has been many years since I read _Moby Dick_, but I recall that Melville spent quite a few paragraphs on the debate over whether whales were mammals or fishes. (I think Ishmael decided they were mammals, but I could be misremembering.) Fish and mammals are completely arbitrary classifications made by humankind. That division has nothing to do with the living world. But are you suggesting the answer to the riddle may be either “fish” or “mammals”? ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/53 "2014-06-04T04:01:10Z")
Reading the thread, the answer is probably whale, but the first thing that came to my mind was music. It’s in an orchestra, but you can’t really “see” it; birds, especially colorful ones, often sing; soundwaves eventually die out in the air and water, as well as in light and dark; and music can swim and fly. It breaks down with the holding its breath part and the “can be guessed more easily be a woman,” though. ---
**Author:** ![Javva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@Javva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Javva)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/54 "2014-06-10T05:02:19Z")
I believe the most plausible answer is the mythological creature known as Sirens. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/55 "2014-06-10T15:43:36Z")
I was thinking it’s the five senses ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/56 "2014-06-10T16:22:22Z")
> [@core\_dump](#): > > Is that the game where your uncle makes you feel around in his pocket and you try to guess what’s in there? I can’t say I liked that game much. I always guessed PEZ dispenser. I was always wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/57 "2014-06-10T18:48:20Z")
My guess is the planet **Venus** , which hits all lines nicely except the first one. I thought maybe Holst’s _The Planets_ would cover it, but it was composed a bit later in 1914-ish. I’m betting that there is some time-period association with Venus and something pertaining to music, perhaps a popular folk song or singer of the time? I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard, –some 1870’s piece [like this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_the_World_%28Sullivan%29) that may relate to the morning star… Yet in Orchestra never was seen. –‘cause it’s a planet, silly I’m a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird, –bright, pretty, and not a bird. Nothing ever in Nature was seen. –“Nature” meaning earthly woods, wildlife, etc. The night sky, OTTH is “Heaven” Touch the earth I expire, in water I die, –Venus sets into the earth or water horizon In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly; –Venus doesn’t rise very high in the night sky, being in close orbit to the sun, yet dips in and out of the horizon Darkness destroys me, and light is my death, –Venus’ orbit again, it isn’t present in dark night or bright daylight, that’s why it’s known as the evening/morning star And I only keep going by holding my breath. –Under the horizon again If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man, By a woman or girl it certainly can. –'cause Venus is a dame. Chicks dig dem moll planets (nice gams!) ---
**Author:** ![strukef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@strukef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strukef)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/58 "2014-06-13T02:30:52Z")
The answer to the riddle could be swan. “Sweetest of sound, in orchestra heard, Yet in orchestra never have been." - This must be reffering to Swan lake,but physically in orchestra never have been - swans don’t go to opera. “Bird in gay plumage” - it is known about swans that a lot of swan couples are gay. I also saw a version “Bird in light plumage” - light=white “Yet I run, swim and fly” - they do all these things don’t they? "If I cannot be guessed by a boy or a man, A girl or a woman I certainly can!” - this could be twisted meaning…guessed=played,probably hard to play the character of a swan by a man but girl can play it easier or better. This is what I got so far. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/59 "2014-06-13T02:45:36Z")
“Coloratura soprano” seems to fit the bill pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530/60 "2014-06-13T05:59:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, we know the answer to the riddle. It’s “teeth” > > How did you find that out? > > Didn’t have to. It’s _always_ teeth in poxy old riddles. > > {later} > > Alright, alright, sometimes it’s “tongue”. Paraphrased from Terry Pratchett’s _The Last Hero_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-riddle-from-1873/655530.md?page=4)