15 riddles to teach

Dear teacher of English (and other shikshaks who are interested in any case):

In the last issue, we suggested to you how you could use jokes as an interesting medium to teach  English in your class. Together with the jokes, if you remember, the editors of Shikshak had added individual commentaries to each joke. This time, we are doing the same with riddles, and we hope you like our effort.

A riddle is a problem or a puzzle that requires some level of ingenuity (sharpness of mind) to answer. A riddle can be in the form of a statement or questions, but here we have only included questions. Riddles need careful thinking to answer, because the obvious answer is always incorrect, or alternatively the answer is right there but there is a trick involved in answering it. Often, riddles use puns. We suggested that you try and answer the questions first without reading the accompanying commentary.

Enjoy, learn and teach!

- Editor

1

Q: What are two things people never eat before breakfast?
A: Lunch and supper.
Commentary: The play here is between the expectation that people will think of what food or drink item you would not eat before breakfast, and the answer of course refers to meals (which you also ‘eat’). The point to be made in a Nepali context is that many rural households do not have concept of breakfast, given that the dal-bhat is eaten before going to work, as a lunch-cum-breakfast.

2

Q: Why did the man throw a bucket of water out the window?
A: He wanted to see the waterfall.
Commentary: The answer is funny because the answer refers to the term ‘waterfall’, which is a permanent feature on a river, but here the water is indeed falling out of the window.

3

Q: Why did the man throw the butter out the window?
A: He wanted to see the butterfly.
Commentary: This riddle is funny for the same reason as the earlier riddle, and additionally so because it uses the same kind of trick answer, and this time rather than the water ‘falling’, this is the butter ‘flying’.

4

Q: Why did the man throw his watch out of the window?
A: He wanted to see time fly.
Commentary: We will soon get tired of people throwing items out of the window. Here’s hoping we do not get another one after this.

5

Q: Why did the man put the clock in the safe?
A: He wanted to save time.
Commentary: The clock refers to passage of time, and the safe is for safe-keeping. The term ‘save time’ refers to something else entirely than the mechanical act of putting a clock in a safe!

6

Q: What has two hands and a face, but no arms and legs?
A: A clock.
Commentary: This will help teach your students what the various parts of a clock are called. Normally something with two hands as a face will have arms and legs, but a clock has hands (minute and hour hand) but not arms and legs. You may also want to make the differentiation between hands (haath) and arms (pakhura). Of course, this riddle does not work with those who only know digital clocks, rather than the analog variety which have hands.

7

Q: What has a neck, but no head?
A: A bottle.
Commentary: Like with the earlier riddle, this one helps you explain that the top of the bottle which into a thin tube is known as a ‘neck’. You could add in addition that where the content pours out is termed ‘mouth’, and that the bottle will either have a cap or a cork.

8

Q: Where is the ocean the deepest?
A: On the bottom.
Commentary: The instant reaction of the person who hears the question is to seek the area of the globe where the ocean is the deepest, but this is a trick question because there is the obvious answer that at any given point in the ocean the deepest is obviously at the bottom. But if you expand the question so that it cannot be considered a riddle, you would ask, “Which is the deepest part of the world’s oceans?” The answer would be the deep underwater valley known as the Mariana Trench, south of Japan and east of the Philippines. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench

9

Q: How do you spell mousetrap?
A: C-A-T.
Commentary: A trap is an inanimate object meant to catch and often kill mice. Of course a cat is not a mousetrap in the strict sense of the word, but a cat will catch and kill a mice. Hence, what the answer does is to ‘cheat’ by spelling the much easier c-a-t than the more complicated m-o-u-s-e-t-r-a-p!

10

(This one should be spoken.)
Q: How many legs does an ant have?
A: Two, the same as an uncle.
Commentary: The quick reaction is to try and remember how many legs the insect known as ant has (six, truth be told). However, this riddle relies on the fact that the pronunciation of ‘ant’ and ‘aunt’ are the same. The aunt being a female member of the human species, of course she would have two rather than three legs.

11

Q: What can't be used until it's broken?
A: An egg.
Commentary: This is a trick question because anything of utility, such as a pen, a bicycle or mirror, cannot be used if it is broken, i.e. phuteko or bigreko. However, there is no use of an egg if you cannot break it to make a fried egg or an omlette!

12

Q: What do tigers have that no other animals have?
A: Baby tigers.
Commentary: This is a play on the double meaning of the term ‘have’. The general meaning is to be in possession of something, such as, “I have a pen.” However, another meaning of ‘have’ is to give birth to, such as, “Our teacher is going to have a baby.”

13

(This one should be spoken.)
Q: What is black and white and read all over?
A: A newspaper
Commentary: This is a very popular riddle and it is quite clever. A newspaper was traditionally printed in black ink on white paper, until the arrival of colour printing. Even today, most papers in the mafasal in Nepal are printed in black and white. Now to the riddle: how could something be black and white, and yet be ‘red’ all over. ‘Red’ and ‘read’ are pronounced exactly the same. Of course nothing can be the colour red all over, if it is also black and white. But a newspaper is generally read ‘all over’, except by people who read only some sections.

14

(This one should be spoken.)
Q: Why is number six afraid ?
A: Because seven eight nine (seven ate nine).
Commentary: If you take Six to be a human, he would be afraid if someone was going to eat him up. It so happens that that the numerical next to Six, i.e. Seven, ate up the numerical Nine. In which case Seven may now turn on Six. The riddle is based on the run of three numerical that come after 6, i.e. 7-8-9. The pronounciation of ‘eight’ and ‘ate’ are the same. And so, the riddle becomes a nice way to teach numbers, and the difference between the number 8 and the act of eating.

15

In the alphabet...
Q: Which is the most self-centered letter of the alphabet?
A: ‘I’.
Commentary: Anyone who is self-centred tends to speak about himself rather than learn about others. Here, the play is between the letter ‘I’. which also makes the pronoun ‘I’.

So long for now, teachers of English! See you next month!

These riddles are taken from iteslj.org/c/riddles.html