People of after hours help me out here.

star.chaser

A man goes into an orchard. He takes no apples but he leaves no apples after he leaves. How did he do it?

Before anyone asks, yes, their were apples in the orchard!

Ticktactoe

star.chaser wrote: »

A man goes into an orchard. He takes no apples but he leaves no apples after he leaves. How did he do it?

Before anyone asks, yes, their were apples in the orchard!

He ate them all....

lugha

Ticktactoe wrote: »

He ate them all....

[pedantic]
He still took them out, albeit in a different form?
[/pedantic]

Boom Boom

Not staying in that hotel bellboy = robbing little fecker

Not taking philosophy because it is not fact I only deal in facts

Originally Posted by star.chaser
A man goes into an orchard. He takes no apples but he leaves no apples after he leaves. How did he do it?

Before anyone asks, yes, their were apples in the orchard!

Bulmers advert am I right:D

Ticktactoe

lugha wrote: »

[pedantic]
He still took them out, albeit in a different form?
[/pedantic]

A nation holds its breath!
I actually had to google pedantic and Im still none the wiser :eek:

_Roz_

He takes no apples to the orchard and as such has no apples to leave behind him?

General Zod

star.chaser wrote: »

A man goes into an orchard. He takes no apples but he leaves no apples after he leaves. How did he do it?

Before anyone asks, yes, their were apples in the orchard!

He went into Cherry Orchard.

star.chaser

General Zod wrote: »

He went into Cherry Orchard.

If he went in there, he wouldn't come out alive.

It was an apple orchard.

_Roz_

star.chaser wrote: »

If he went in there, he wouldn't come out alive.

It was an apple orchard.

I can't see any answer other than what I said - that it's an issue of semantics and that he 'takes no apples' (with him going to the orchard) and therefore 'leaves no apples' after him in the orchard because he's physically incapable of leaving what he did not bring.

So what's the answer?

Mackman

star.chaser wrote: »

A man goes into an orchard. He takes no apples but he leaves no apples after he leaves. How did he do it?

Before anyone asks, yes, their were apples in the orchard!

There arent any apples in the orchard, its the off season (or whatever its called)

Novella

I wish I didn't read this thread 'cause now I wanna know where all the apples went and I won't be able to sleep!

Professey Chin

Im gonna agree with Roz on this one

Doc

He could have burt down the orchard.

He could have made cider from the apples.

Or again as someone has said it could be a play on words. For example if I said I walked into the national portrait gallery with two paintings under my arms. I didn’t take any paintings from the gallery and walked out with the same two paintings. I could also say that “A man goes into an gallery. He takes no paintings but he leaves no paintings after he leaves.”

So the man could simply have walked into the orchard taken no apples and not deposited any apples either.

_Roz_

I seriously can't see any other solution.

But I want to know the answer now, because it's going to drive me mad.

star.chaser

yeah, it's a play on words.
their were two apples in the orchard.
he didn't take any apples and he didn't leave any apples.
he took an apple and he left an apple. :pac:

_Roz_

But the word 'any' implies singular case also, so that doesn't exactly make sense. In order to not take or leave 'any apples' he would have to not take or leave any at all. That's how the word 'any' works, regardless of what word you put after it.

star.chaser

apple = 1
apples = more than 1

possibly on it's own any implies singular but in the contect it was used (any apples), how could you possibly argue that it means singular? God.

NothingMan

star.chaser wrote: »

apple = 1
apples = more than 1

Any

You use any in statements with negative meaning to indicate that no thing or person of a particular type exists, is present, or is involved in a situation.

• I never make any big decisions.
• I'm not making any promises.

I think the whole, didn't bring any, couldn't leave any argument is much better.

_Roz_

NothingMan wrote: »

I think the whole, didn't bring any, couldn't leave any argument is much better.

If you're telling a riddle based on semantics you kind of need to adhere to basic grammar, and 'any' applies also to an individual apple.

So thanks. I agree, my argument is valid either way, and arguably the only correct answer.

Sharpshooter

Moved from After Hours.

star.chaser

_Roz_ wrote: »

my argument is valid either way, and arguably the only correct answer.

ok, you win