Riddles

LadyOnArooftop

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A riddle I heard this morning, but I didn't get it. :rolleyes:

A doctor and his son are in a frightful car crash. The doctor is killed outright. They rush the injured youth to hospital. The surgeon takes one look at the
patient and says "I can't operate on this boy because he is my child"

explanation?...
 

Dropship

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I think you missed out the final line of the riddle which was "Who is the surgeon?"

Spoiler alert- I googled the answer which is "The surgeon is the boys mother".
But I still don't understand why the woman couldn't operate on her son???
 

LadyOnArooftop

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Asking "Who was the surgeon" might have narrowed down the focus of the riddle. Left as it was, it was open to other possibilities, e.g the doctor wasn't the boys real father. As you point out, if you take the information given as fact, the only answer is that the surgeon was the boy's mother.

Why couldn't she operate? You may have to fact check me on this, but i don't think it's accepted practice to operate on your own offspring.

The main point of the riddle was, and few people think of it - women can be surgeons. :cool: But i have a feeling that this is an old riddle, because these days a child can have two dads, so the surgeon could have been his other dad!

My fab forum friends :) Any riddles you'd like to share? feel free...
 

WickedPerdition

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Asking "Who was the surgeon" might have narrowed down the focus of the riddle. Left as it was, it was open to other possibilities, e.g the doctor wasn't the boys real father. As you point out, if you take the information given as fact, the only answer is that the surgeon was the boy's mother.

Why couldn't she operate? You may have to fact check me on this, but i don't think it's accepted practice to operate on your own offspring.

The main point of the riddle was, and few people think of it - women can be surgeons. :cool: But i have a feeling that this is an old riddle, because these days a child can have two dads, so the surgeon could have been his other dad!

My fab forum friends :) Any riddles you'd like to share? feel free...
This riddle is quite ancient, actually.
They were very popular at one time when there was a demand for lateral-thinking puzzles.
I agree with you that the general mindset of people then was gender-defined, such as when few women were 'firefighters' or 'fishermen'.
Most people would think (at the time), why would the doctor/surgeon being unable to operate on the child?
There were a number of similar posers going round but off the top of my head, I cannot immediately bring one to mind.
If I find a moment of inspiration, I will, hopefully, return with something in keeping with this theme.

No offence, but when I saw the title, I thought the original poster was Babyaga, as he likes to cast these up from time to time.
:)
P.S. Your version of the riddle is the correct one, by the way.
 

TheBabayaga

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No problem, old chap. It's my bad for replicating an existing thread. :( My apologies to @TheBabayaga
well since you recognised the brilliance of my off the cuff most original riddles aka stupid sh** itsonly right an propa I create another.. G'day btw oh most bea;)utiful one x
 

LadyOnArooftop

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Is this more of a maths thing? I do hope so. I was in one of the last years to sit O levels before they became GCSE's? Anyway, let me put my Grade C to this problem. :) Initially it's a 5 to 1 chance of picking the car. Once 2 goats have been exposed the odds of picking the car are now 3 - 1. So I would accept the host's offer.
 

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I was a maths dummy at school and even after googling the answer to the 3 doors riddle I still can't get my head round it!

To recap- There are 3 doors and the car prize is behind one of them, and a goat booby prize is behind each of the other 2.
That means there's a 33% chance of picking the car door.
So let's say you pick door 1.
The host then opens a goat door (say door 3)
The host then says "Do you want to stick with door 1 or change your choice to door 2?"
There's now a 50% chance of the car being behind one of the other two.
Yet the answer is that if you switch your choice to door 2, you stand a better chance of winning the car than if you stuck with door 1.
I just don't get it !
 

LadyOnArooftop

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It's Specsavers I need to go to, I thought there were 6 doors :oops: I was tired, i'd been up all night... (working!) But yes, take the host's offer, the odds of winning the car have been increased, but don't ask me why...
 
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WickedPerdition

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Here's another one involving doors that was prompted by the previous poser:

You are held captive by, (would you believe, appropriately), TWO trolls each standing guard by TWO doors.
You have to choose one of the doors to go through in order to gain your freedom.

Unfortunately, you can only ask ONE of the trolls ONE question to do so, BUT you have to be aware that one of the trolls always tells the truth and the other troll always lies! You don't know which one does which even though they are brothers.

What question do you ask one of the trolls in order to escape a terrible fate?

If you ask the wrong question, one of the trolls will eat you for his lunch.

Good Luck!

Actually, I think this riddle has featured on one or two television shows over the years.
 

WickedPerdition

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Just to whet your puzzling appetite further, here are a few 'quickies':

1. Riddle: David's father has three sons: Snap, Crackle, and _____?
2. Riddle: What do you leave behind the more you take?
3. Riddle: Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?
4. Riddle: You live in a one-storey house made entirely of redwood. What colour would the stairs be?
5. Riddle: A boy was at a carnival and went to a booth where a man said to the boy, "If I write your exact weight on this piece of paper then you have to give me £50, but if I cannot, I will pay you £50." The boy looked around and saw no scale(s) so he agrees, thinking no matter what the carny writes he'll just say he weighs more or less. In the end the boy ended up paying the man £50. How did the man win the bet?
o_O
 

LadyOnArooftop

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Here's another one involving doors that was prompted by the previous poser:

You are held captive by, (would you believe, appropriately), TWO trolls each standing guard by TWO doors.
You have to choose one of the doors to go through in order to gain your freedom.

Unfortunately, you can only ask ONE of the trolls ONE question to do so, BUT you have to be aware that one of the trolls always tells the truth and the other troll always lies! You don't know which one does which even though they are brothers.

What question do you ask one of the trolls in order to escape a terrible fate?

If you ask the wrong question, one of the trolls will eat you for his lunch.

Good Luck!

Actually, I think this riddle has featured on one or two television shows over the years.
This one has really got me. I think it's along the lines of asking one troll a question about what the other troll's answer would be. I'll have to have a think about this.
1. Riddle: David's father has three sons: Snap, Crackle, and _____?
I was going to say 'pop' but of course it's David ;)
3. Riddle: Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?
Yesterday, today, tomorrow?
4. Riddle: You live in a one-storey house made entirely of redwood. What colour would the stairs be?
Stairs in a one-storey house? :)
 

WickedPerdition

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This one has really got me. I think it's along the lines of asking one troll a question about what the other troll's answer would be. I'll have to have a think about this.

I was going to say 'pop' but of course it's David ;)

Yesterday, today, tomorrow?

Stairs in a one-storey house? :)
Absolutely correct on the answers you gave.
I'll let you think further on the Troll one as it is down to logical deduction ... no offence <lol>
Admittedly, the second and third riddles are what you'd find in any cheap Christmas cracker.
When you give up on any of those you can't fathom, please let me know. Or 'ask a friend'.

Just as well I didn't pose the 'riddle of the Sphynx', isn't it?
:p
 

LadyOnArooftop

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I'm still stumped on the troll riddle. Mentioning that they are brothers might be a clue, else why give that information? If it's down to logical deduction I've no chance, but I refuse to google the answer! I shall ruminate on it :) Have you ever watched TV and seen someone and wondered what you have seen them in before? I've sometimes spent days trying to think of the programme I saw them in. And yet, I could get the answer in a flash just by typing their name into a search engine. :rolleyes:

Riddle 5. Did the carny write "your exact weight" on the piece of paper? :)
 

WickedPerdition

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I have to apologise for saying that the trolls being siblings. I did throw that in as a red herring. No matter, the question required would still be the same even if they were sisters ... ;)
I'm glad you haven't resorted to seeking help from another source. I'm like you, I prefer to solve riddles and even problems on my own steam.
You are correct on "your exact weight" as the answer to the carny riddle, nevertheless.

That could be another thread somewhere, thinking that you have seen someone in another TV programme, or even film and trying to remember their name. It often happens to me. I won't give up and am very rarely defeated.
:)
Just out of interest, do you ever go through the alphabet when you think that a particular letter will trigger your memory to recall the name (either forename or surname, or both) of someone when a picture just doesn't do the trick?

For God's sake, don't get eaten by the trolls. They are very impatient and hungry creatures, you know. :eek:
 

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I'm still trying to get my head round the troll thing but I think if I asked any of the trolls- "Do you always tell lies" and he answers "Yes" or "No", I think that might somehow give me a clue which door to go through.

PS- here's another 'sort of' riddle-
Which character saved Middle Earth in LOTR?
 

WickedPerdition

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I'm still trying to get my head round the troll thing but I think if I asked any of the trolls- "Do you always tell lies" and he answers "Yes" or "No", I think that might somehow give me a clue which door to go through.

PS- here's another 'sort of' riddle-
Which character saved Middle Earth in LOTR?
Scenario 1. You ask the 'truthful' troll that question he will logically reply no.
Scenario 2. You ask the 'lying' troll that question he will logically reply yes.

Seeing as you don't know which one is telling the truth or lying, I'm afraid you get eaten.... :eek:

As regards your ... er ... 'riddle'; I don't know the answer because I don't understand the question. o_O
 
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