# riddle me that



## iknowu99 (Jul 26, 2007)

Guess an answer and follow up with a new riddle


Q: What goes around the world but stays in a corner?


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## iknowu99 (Jul 26, 2007)

A: a stamp


Q:
you are on a barbaric island: barbarians are either going to take you in or eat you! They give you 100 marbles: 50 white, 50 black. They give you two jars in which you must put all the marbles. Then they will randomly pick a jar and then one marble out of that jar – white ball and you are accepted. How to distribute the marbles to maximize chances of survival??


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## Greg Truby (Jul 26, 2007)

1 white in jar #1 & the other 99 in jar #2?


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## Joe4 (Jul 26, 2007)

> 1 white in jar #1 & the other 99 in jar #2?


Of course!!!  How clever.  I don't know why that didn't occur to me.

If my calculations are correct, that gives you a 74.7% chance of survival.
*=(.5 * 1) + (.5 * (49/99))*

A lot better than 50/50...


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## Smitty (Jul 26, 2007)

> > 1 white in jar #1 & the other 99 in jar #2?
> 
> 
> Of course!!!  How clever.  I don't know why that didn't occur to me.
> ...



What if all the black marbles are on the bottom?

Where do you find "barbarians" who make you answer math questions in order to live? 

Smitty


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## Joe4 (Jul 26, 2007)

> What if all the black marbles are on the bottom?


That doesn't necessarily help, unless you know for a fact that they will always pick from the top.  If they always pick from the bottom, you're in big trouble...

_(... but I'm guessing you really weren't serious!)_


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## Oaktree (Jul 26, 2007)

Or gnaw on the black marbles for a while until the black paint comes off.  Then, distribute the all white marbles however you'd like


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## Norie (Jul 27, 2007)

Or if you are a ninja use the marbles as deadly weapons, and make your escape.

PS I'm not a ninja so I don't actually know if you can use marbles as deadly weapons, but hey who knows - worth a shot don't you think.


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

> ...What if all the black marbles are on the bottom?...
> ~Smitty



Actually, that thought crossed my mind too.  If the jar was small enough that w/ 99 in it you can't shake/mix 'em too much and the opening of the jar was such that you can only just get your hand inside, then yes, I would definitely also put the black ones on the bottom of the jar too!   



> Where do you find "barbarians" who make you answer math questions in order to live?
> ~Smitty



Indeed -- an excellent question.


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

A: The ninja technique is correct. 100 marbles should be enough to establish order. Next get the barbarians to build a computer, then use the Excel that comes with barbarian windows(tm) and thanks to Excel's many functions prioritize a new world where only white marbles exist, black ones are thrown far into the sea

how about a simple "if then" puzzle 

Q: A prisoner is told "If you tell a lie we will hang you; if you tell the truth we will shoot you." What can he say to save himself?


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

"You're going to hang me." ???


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## Lewiy (Jul 27, 2007)

If the barbarians are smart enough to pose mathematical challenges for survival, surely they’d be smart enough to give you 2 jars which hold no more than 50 marbles each.


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

A:
yes! If they hang him then he told the truth. If they shoot him then he lied.

Q:
There was this black dog in the middle of a black road all the houses are black and the moon and stars weren't out.  The power was out in this town and a guy whose headlights were out was driving down the road and almost hit the dog but he swerved just in time.  How did the man see the dog?




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Comment: 
Please follow up with a riddle you heard before, or look one up if you don't know any
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## Joe4 (Jul 27, 2007)

> There was this black dog in the middle of a black road all the houses are black and the moon and stars weren't out. The power was out in this town and a guy whose headlights were out was driving down the road and almost hit the dog but he swerved just in time. How did the man see the dog?


They were in Alaska or near the North Pole where for half of the year it is light 24 hours a day!


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

A:
that's correct enough, the answer is slightly simpler >> "it's daylight"

Q:
_97% of Harvard grads couldn't answer this, yet 84% of kindergartenchildren answered this on an average of 6 minutes. _

I turn polar bears white and I will make you cry
I make guys have to pee and girls comb their hair
I make movie stars look stupid and normal people look like movie stars
I turn pancakes brown and make your champagne bubble
If you squeeze me, I'll pop, and if you look at me you'll pop

_Can you solve this riddle?_


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

Regarding the "polar bear...pop" riddle: I can only conclude CHUCK NORRIS!

I ended up googling the riddle and can't say as I agree with the answer given in regards to the "pancakes brown" and "if you squeeze me, I'll pop" clues -- unless one is familiar with the children's poem that is cited as the root of the riddle, those clues really don't work too well.

And I did note that in the black dog riddle, you never said it was night, coulda been noon based on the info presented.

Here's sort of a riddle back:

_How high would you have to count before you would use the letter A in the English language spelling of a whole number? (Assumes you start at zero and go up.)_


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## Joe4 (Jul 27, 2007)

> How high would you have to count before you would use the letter A in the English language spelling of a whole number? (Assumes you start at zero and go up.)


One-thousand?


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

Yup.  Bit surprising, ain't it.


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## Norie (Jul 27, 2007)

What about one hundred and one?


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## Joe4 (Jul 27, 2007)

> Yup. Bit surprising, ain't it.


'Tis.

I am more curious about IKNOWU99's last riddle.  Is it all one riddle, and many different riddles?


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## Joe4 (Jul 27, 2007)

Here is an easy one.

What is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside?


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

just one riddle, don't think too hard - an average kid knows!








tip - Italicized for a reason


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## Oaktree (Jul 27, 2007)

> What about one hundred and one?



Or, what about counting in non-integer increments?  "one and a half, three, four and a half..." gets you an A in the first member


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

> What about one hundred and one?
> ~ Norie



I'da thought a Brit would know better'n ta stick "and" twixt the "one hundred" and the "one". 



> Or, what about counting in non-integer increments?
> ~Oaktree



That'd be why the riddle said "...in the spelling of a *whole number*..." :wink:

And yes, _iknowu99_'s riddle is meant to be have but one answer.  I reckon the reason 5-year-olds get it and Harvard grads don't is that one has to play a bit fast and loose with the clues.  If you apply the clues quite strictly as filters, then the only correct answer is, indeed, Chuck Norris. 

Still trying to remember the answer to the fruit/seed outside one...


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## Joe4 (Jul 27, 2007)

I found an answer to IKNOWU99's riddle on the web:


> The riddle is derived from the children's poem below.
> 
> ---------------------------------
> 
> ...


I have never heard this poem, so I challenge those statistics! (97% of Harvard grads..., 84% of kindergarten children...)


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## Lewiy (Jul 27, 2007)

> I'da thought a Brit would know better'n ta stick "and" twixt the "one hundred" and the "one".



It did say "in the English language" not in the American language


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

As I said, if you were to know the poem, then you'd have a chance.  If you don't know the poem, then the clues can filter out "time" as the answer.  To me, especially the "pancakes" one, for it is not "time" that turns the wet batter on the griddle brown.  Anyone that's ever forgotten to turn the griddle on can tell you that you can wait a really, really long *time* and without *heat*, that pancake ain't a gonna turn brown.


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## Oaktree (Jul 27, 2007)

> That'd be why the riddle said "...in the spelling of a whole number..."


 Too busy trying to be a smart aleck to catch that one, Greg.

The fruit's a strawberry.

IKNOWU's riddle is ambiguous.  Heat, water, time, and "no" (or "yes") [since the riddle really asks if you can solve it] can all be considered answers to it.


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

A: specific answer coming from kindergardners was "no" except the smart alec ones

but anyways, good job everybody and nice poem jm14! 

please follow up with a riddle when guessing a question. also any Shakespeare fans in the house? maybe some fancy riddles from back in the day?




Q:
If you have three oranges and you take away two, how many will you have?


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

Given that the only pronoun in that riddle is "you", I reckon "you" would still have all three.

_A man was found dead in his study. He was slumped over his desk and a gun was in his hand. There was a cassette recorder on his desk. When the police entered the room and pressed the play button on the tape recorder they heard: "I can't go on. I have nothing to live for." Then there was the sound of a gunshot. How did the detective immediately know that the man had been murdered and it wasn't a suicide?_


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## TrippyTom (Jul 27, 2007)

"One hundred and one" is not valid because, technically, the AND is not used when saying the number.  It should be said as "one hundred one".

That said, you probably realize most of us write out our checks incorrectly.  Do you use the word "AND" when writing checks? 

[edit] -- except in the part between the dollars and cents.


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## Norie (Jul 27, 2007)

Tom

Eh, we are talking English here aren't we.

If I was to say one hundred one I would get some funny looks.


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## Oaktree (Jul 27, 2007)

If it was a suicide, he wouldn't have been able to rewind the tape so it was queued for playback.


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## Oaktree (Jul 27, 2007)

Not a riddle so much as a puzzle, but still good (the twisted wires puzzle):

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/puzzle.html


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## iknowu99 (Jul 27, 2007)

A:
is it a three dimensional circuit?
EDIT: it would be easier yet if 2D then
start with B - go around C clockwise, around A counter clockwise - to B
second is A - around the B wire clockwise and to A
third C to C



Q:
You are stuck in a room with no windows or doors. a solid room. the only things in this room is a mirror and a table. how do you escape?


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## Greg Truby (Jul 27, 2007)

Matt,

You're a wicked, wicked person.  I finally sussed it out, but holy smoke -- I was soooo close w/in a minute or two, but took me at least another 8 or 10 minutes to work it out all the way.

Norie,

I always thought that not using "and" when saying the numbers 101-119 was simply "proper" English.  Looks like it may not really a "rule" per se.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Numbers


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## Andrew Fergus (Jul 27, 2007)

The answer involves a play on words which IMO is absurd.  Never mind how you got into such a room anyway.  Is there a roof or a floor?

My take:  Whip out your cellphone and call in Chuck Norris who will knock down a wall.  Or make like Terminator 3 and just morph through the wall.    Just as likely as the real answer......



> Q:
> You are stuck in a room with no windows or doors. a solid room. the only things in this room is a mirror and a table. how do you escape?



Q.  A convict is sentenced to death and has to choose his method of dying.  What method would he choose to give himself the longest possible life?


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## chicagodiceman (Jul 29, 2007)

> Q. A convict is sentenced to death and has to choose his method of dying. What method would he choose to give himself the longest possible life?



Old Age or Natural Causes


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## GeorgeB (Jul 30, 2007)

A strawberry has its seed on the outside.


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## Mark O'Brien (Jul 30, 2007)

> _A man was found dead in his study. He was slumped over his desk and a gun was in his hand. There was a cassette recorder on his desk. When the police entered the room and pressed the play button on the tape recorder they heard: "I can't go on. I have nothing to live for." Then there was the sound of a gunshot. How did the detective immediately know that the man had been murdered and it wasn't a suicide?_



A similar riddle that I remember:

A man is found dead, hanging in an empty room.  There are no chairs, ladders or platforms of any type.  The only items in the room are the rope around his neck and a puddle of water.  The rope is attached to the ceiling and the ceiling is higher than the man could have reached.  How did he manage to hang himself?


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## NateO (Jul 30, 2007)

He was standing on a rather large ice cube and stepped off?


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## daniels012 (Jul 31, 2007)

The gentleman was standing on a block of ice.  When the Ice melted he was hanged.



Q.
A man walking through the woods, sees a cabin 400 feet away.  He said to himself "If anyone is in the cabin they are dead".  How did he know that if anyone were in the cabin, that they would be dead?

Michael


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## iknowu99 (Jul 31, 2007)

A: He is in Hell?? and he is the Devil?





Q: The prince races around the world in search for the treasure. Eventually he stumbles in to the split footpath where two dwarfs stand. The sign above the funny looking creatures says: 

"The road divides here! One is to the treasure of a lifetime and the next is to an awful destiny.  These twin dwarfs can help you however one always tells the truth while the next always tells lies. Each dwarf will answer one question."



What can you ask each dwarf to get to the dear princess?


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## Norie (Jul 31, 2007)

Michael

Because the cabin is 400 ft away, at the bottom of a cliff having been blown away by a tornado caused by El Nino.

Or he is only seeing the cabin's roof as it's been engulfed by an avalanche and/or a rock fall.


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## Oaktree (Jul 31, 2007)

You don't need both dwarves.  "If I had asked you yesterday which path to take, what would you have said?" will reveal the *correct* path.  Or, if they have knowledge of each other's habits, "If I were to ask the other dwarf which path to take, what would he say?" will reveal the *wrong* path.

Then, you can ask the other dwarf what it's like being a dwarf in a fairy tale and hope for an entertaining story


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## iknowu99 (Jul 31, 2007)

Oaktree i am looking for a better answer...
i really don't see how the "yesterday" twist plays a role? one dwarf would pick one path, the other would pick the other path, who do you listen to?

100% treasure everytime, it is not a play on words. using straight logic, based on all the given info ask two questions.


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## Oaktree (Jul 31, 2007)

Yesterday reveals the correct path from either dwarf.

Truth dwarf: yesterday, he would have told you the correct path.  Today, he will be truthful about which path he would have said, so he'll tell you the correct path.

Lie dwarf: yesterday, he would have told you the wrong path...and, today, he will lie about what path he would have told you... so, he'd also tell you the correct path.

Basically, it's +1 * +1 = +1 and -1 * -1 = +1.  Either way, the dwarf will tell you the correct path.


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## iknowu99 (Jul 31, 2007)

A: oh i see, i was thinking to 

-ask one dwarf is the other dwarf your twin?
-then ask the other dwarf which road to take.


Q:
How is the man doing in the woods 400ft from the cabin? How did he know?


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## NumbersMax (Jul 31, 2007)

In regards to the prince...





> What can you ask each dwarf to get to the dear princess?



Which road takes you to the dear princess anyway...the one with the treasure of a lifetime or the one with an awful destiny...I guess it depends on the princess, right?  Even a dear princess could have an awful curse upon her   

As far as the fellow in the woods, I'm thinking it would be tough to see a cabin 400ft away in most woods I've been in...but say he were walking through the charred remains of a forest (thus the ability to see it) and the cabin had been burned to the ground...???

Q:  
Whereever there is light, I am with you.
With the rising and setting of the sun, 
I am larger than life and yet 
Without a sound I diminish at noon 
With closed eyes, you may deny my presence
You may cast me, throw me and 
Yet I never leave your side.


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## daniels012 (Jul 31, 2007)

Numbermax
You are a shadow! Right?

As far as the Woods...
The cabin was the cabin of a wrecked plane.


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## iknowu99 (Jul 31, 2007)

Princesses are dear in imaginary stories therefore are not cursed, the dwarfs were cursed cuz they would always disagree but Oaktree figured out the spell and now they are fine.


A: Clock?


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## iknowu99 (Jul 31, 2007)

Q:

A family of four are looking to have another child yet the biggest problem is the kitchen table. Only four sides, how does the family accommodate for the coming kid and create an extra side?


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## NumbersMax (Aug 1, 2007)

Yep, a shadow.


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## njimack (Aug 1, 2007)

> A man walking through the woods, sees a cabin 400 feet away. He said to himself "If anyone is in the cabin they are dead". How did he know that if anyone were in the cabin, that they would be dead?



Coz it's on fire?


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## Lewiy (Aug 1, 2007)

> Q:
> 
> A family of four are looking to have another child yet the biggest problem is the kitchen table. Only four sides, how does the family accommodate for the coming kid and create an extra side?



Cut off one of the corners and buy a new chair!


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## iknowu99 (Aug 1, 2007)

cutting off a corner adds another angle and a side! good job.


A:njimack, the answer was that the cabin is not a regular cabin, it's an airplane cabin and it was a plane crash!


Q:Dva brata sedyat na dvuh verbludah v balshom pystinam gorode nepadalyoky ot gori. Vdryk vihodit otez ii gavarit: “peredam nasledak tamy siny katoravo verblyd dabezhit da gori paslednim.” Nastart, Vnimanie, Marsh …….. bratya sidyat ne dvigaytsya. Sidyat sidyat dyriy mayutsya, vsetaki nasledok balshoi ii yarki brilyantavai dom. Pary dnei spystya prahodit mydrez, bratya raskazali mydretsy chto za dilemma. Mydrez v otvet shoptnyl bratyam v atvet adno slovo. Bratya sa vsei dyre paskakali k gare – shto zhe za slovo on im skazal?

Translation: Two brothers are sitting on camels in a big desert city not too far from the mountain. The king father tells the brothers "i will pass my riches to the one son whose camel gets to the mountain last."
Ready Set Go! both brothers don't even bother moving. They sit there for days until a wise man passes. The wise finds out about the problem and whispers one single word to the brothers. Both brothers are racing the camels to get to the mountain. What was the one word the wise man said to the brothers?


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## Oaktree (Aug 1, 2007)

"Switch", as in "switch camels"


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## iknowu99 (Aug 1, 2007)

A: Yes!



Q: Two kittens are walking on the porch, one walks left other right, yet they never seperate, how?


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## NumbersMax (Aug 1, 2007)

Are they Siamese?


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## iknowu99 (Aug 1, 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9KjBNLr0c8


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## daniels012 (Aug 1, 2007)

That cat was strange!

Michael


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## NumbersMax (Aug 1, 2007)

Can't view YouTube from work...what's it look like?


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## iknowu99 (Aug 1, 2007)

it's a cat walking backwards


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## daniels012 (Aug 3, 2007)

We have 4 cats and they all walk forward!


here we go back on track!!!!!!
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter. What am I?


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## MorganO (Aug 3, 2007)

> It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter. What am I?



This is from "The Hobbit" and the answer is "Darkness", but I don't see how darkness "End's life, Kills Laughter."

Anyhoo, to continue this thread:

"He who has it doesn't tell about it.  He who takes it doesn't know about it. He who knows what it is doesn't want it.  What is it?"


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## Oorang (Aug 4, 2007)

What is "The Clap"?


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## MorganO (Aug 6, 2007)

> What is "The Clap"?



Ha!  Not the answer I was looking for, but does seem to match.

My answer was "Counterfeit Money"


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## Oorang (Aug 6, 2007)

Sorry about that  It was pretty late when I read it, and I may have been a bit slaphappy.


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## daniels012 (Aug 7, 2007)

I like the Counterfeit Money answer!!

How about!

A word I know, six letters it contains, subtract one, and twelve remains. What am I??


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## Lewiy (Aug 7, 2007)

Dozens


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