Today a friend of mine posted a puzzle on Facebook. It was a challenge where you have to solve a puzzle and there are penalties if you get it wrong. It went like this:
I just changed my profile picture because I lost a challenge, and now I have to have a llama profile pic.
Solve this riddle...
It's 3am, you're sleeping and hear the doorbell. It's your parents there for a surprise visit (because apparently they have nothing better to do at 3am), they wanna have breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, bread and cheese. What do you open first?!
Don't forget to answer by private message do not put it in comments. If you answer correctly I'll put your name in the comments. If you're wrong start looking for a llama pic to put as your profile pic for 3 days.
I answered "The door". I have seen this riddle before, and that was the answer. I was informed that I am wrong and the answer is "Your eyes".
I didn't buy that. If the question had been "What would you do first, from the first moment of hearing the doorbell?" then the eyes answer would be fine. But when you are given a time and other information the question of "What do you open first?" should be taken as going forward from the last point of established conduct, not a question about what you have already done at an unspecified moment in the past.
I argued the point, but the person in question wasn't super interested in getting into semantic arguments about this silly FB riddle. Probably sensible.
However, I have since realized that my answer was in fact wrong. So was the one my friend supplied.
The correct answer is "My bottle of whiskey." If your parents are knocking on your door at 3 AM looking for breakfast then this is definitely the right response, because things are right fucked up.
Hm. I hadn't heard this before, and I thought the answer was "Your eyes". I'm super-curious as to your argument for "the door", though. It feels like the argument for door would be around the same as "the refrigerator" - I mean, why would you go to the kitchen until you already know it's your parents, and therefore, the door is already open? And the puzzle does clearly establish the timeframe - it starts with "You are sleeping".
ReplyDeleteI think that perhaps you should be looking a bit more sheepish? :)
I think I'd open my heart, to find the love to forgive my parents for arriving on my doorstep at Dark o clock!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, kudos to Barbara for what has to be the best answer.
ReplyDeleteI think any answer to "What do you open first?" that goes to before the point that you've answered the door is absolute bullshit. The doorbell rang, I know my parents are there, so clearly I have opened the door already. I'm half surprised the answer isn't supposed to be, "My mouth, to answer your question."
I swear, just in order to make the person uncomfortable, I'd argue ceaselessly that the proper answer was "My mother's cervix." Obviously I had to be born before I got into this situation.