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Lateral Thinking Thread

24

Comments

  • #32
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,058 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    11)
    A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?

    One was deaf and communicated through sign language.
    The other was blind.


  • #33
    Stephen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,484 ✭✭✭✭Stephen


    4) Natural causes? The windows may have been broken beforehand.


  • #34
    bringitdown
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,002 ✭✭✭bringitdown


    11) - Sons were deaf / lip read / spoke in sign language?


  • #35
    Debyaka
    Closed Accounts Posts: 121 ✭✭Debyaka


    monkeyfudge wrote:
    He was the night watchman and he shouldn't have been asleep on the job?

    Try reading the rest of the thread before answering,
    that one has been answered loads of time.


  • #36
    WizZard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,762 ✭✭✭WizZard


    11) One was deaf and dumb, the other blind. The blind one can't use sign language


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  • #37
    WizZard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,762 ✭✭✭WizZard


    8) the coffee was cold?


  • #38
    monkeyfudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,216 ✭✭✭✭monkeyfudge


    Debyaka wrote:
    Try reading the rest of the thread before answering,
    that one has been answered loads of time.

    Ah... I was going on Pighead's recap post, where he said which ones hadn't been answered.


  • #39
    Debyaka
    Closed Accounts Posts: 121 ✭✭Debyaka


    monkeyfudge wrote:
    Ah... I was going on Pighead's recap post, where he said which ones hadn't been answered.

    Guessed that alright,
    Pighead is running abit slow today after his "Bum Boys" thread last night..


  • #40
    Eoghan-psych
    Closed Accounts Posts: 312 ✭✭Eoghan-psych


    Pighead wrote:
    11)
    A woman sat at a table with her two sons. She spoke to both sons, they both replied but never uttered a word to each other. They had not fallen out and did not dislike each other. They conversed freely with their mother the whole time. They never addressed each other though. Why?

    Two seperate times.


  • #41
    radiospan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,355 ✭✭✭radiospan


    I think 4) and 10) have only been answered once so far. Not sure if they're right.


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  • #42
    Pighead
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,184 ✭✭✭✭Pighead


    Updated recap post!

    1. Melted Snowman
    2. he originally stood on a large icecube which melted away?
    3. the other guy was snoring so loud it stopped him sleeping, so phoning him woke him up
    4.He was a fisherman. he was stretching out his arms to describe how big a fish he had caught, and accidently broke the glass on either side slitting his wrists
    5. they were playing other opponents, not each other
    6. they are on a podium collecting medals after a competition - the crying one is crying with joy, other putting on brave face
    7. the employee was on nightshift so was sleeping on the job
    8.
    9.
    10. There was more than one person there (not one single, but more than one)
    11.
    12.The clean sister saw her dirty sister and assumed she also was dirty - so she cleaned. The dirty sister saw her clean sister and assumed she also was clean - so she didn't. Obviously there's a shortage of mirrors.

    A lot of people close with 11


  • #43
    tSubh Dearg
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭tSubh Dearg


    4) is the fisherman who catches a huge fish, goes into the phone booth to call his wife and he is so excited that when she asks how big it was he hold his hands out and says "this big" in the process breaking the glass of the phone booth on either side, cutting his wrists and bleeding to death.


  • #44
    tSubh Dearg
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,555 ✭✭✭tSubh Dearg


    dang posted too slow!

    oh forgotten the number but Anothony and Cleopatra are goldfish who's bowl has fallen over and smashed and they died suffocting in the air


  • #45
    monkeyfudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,216 ✭✭✭✭monkeyfudge


    Are you sure Seamus wasn't right with his answer for No. 9? It's seems like a perfect answer.

    And... for No. 8... had the man already added sugar to his coffee before giving it back?


  • #46
    tadhgrrr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 274 ✭✭tadhgrrr


    9) the guy was a window cleaner, he opened the window on the 10th story and jumped into the building....simple really ;)


  • #47
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,058 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    9)
    A man stood looking through a window 10 storeys up. Suddenly, he opened the window and leapt through it. It was a sheer drop outside the window to the ground. He didnt use a parachute, land on water or another soft surface, yet he was completely unhurt. Explain?

    The building was in an atmospheric bubble on the moon.


  • #48
    Doc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,670 ✭✭✭Doc


    tadhgrrr wrote:
    9) the guy was a window cleaner, he opened the window on the 10th story and jumped into the building....simple really ;)

    Yea especially simple when someone else already answered it!

    The answer to 11 must be that both sons are mute...


  • #49
    Eoin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,273 ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    8)
    A man in a restaurant complained of a fly in his coffee. the waiter took the cup away, promising a fresh cup. He returned a fewminutes later. The man complained that it was the same cup of coffee. He was right. How could he know?

    He had already put sugar in the coffee before he sent it back, and could taste it when he got a replacement?


  • #50
    WizZard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,762 ✭✭✭WizZard


    eoin_s wrote:
    He had already put sugar in the coffee before he sent it back, and could taste it when he got a replacement?
    Ah, well done. That must be it!


  • #51
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    @9 - He was on the ground floor looking up through the window? thats about all i can think off.

    Unless hes spiderman.


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  • #52
    monkeyfudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,216 ✭✭✭✭monkeyfudge


    WizZard wrote:
    Ah, well done. That must be it!
    ...ahem...


  • #53
    Eoin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,273 ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    monkeyfudge wrote:
    ...ahem...

    oops - don't know how I missed that, sorry :)


  • #54
    Stark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,202 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    No. 9 - He was standing on the ledge outside the 10th floor window and jumped through the window into the building.

    No. 8 - assuming the waiter was clever enough to reheat the coffee in the microwave so it wouldn't be cold, then the other answer I could think of is the man had put sugar in his coffee before handing it back.

    edit: woops, see someone else already answered for No. 8

    No.11 - The mother was bilingual and the two sons spoke different languages.


  • #55
    seamus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,190 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Stark wrote:
    edit: woops, see someone else already answered for No. 8
    And no. 9 :)


  • #56
    *Angel*
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,496 ✭✭✭*Angel*


    Stark wrote:
    No.11 - The mother was bilingual and the two sons spoke different languages.

    That's what I would guess.


  • #57
    ][cEMAN**
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,126 ✭✭✭][cEMAN**


    Without looking at replies...

    1)Snowman
    2)He is on the second floor of the barn. The rope had a weight tied to the other end heavy enough to lift him up and strangle him. He's about 6-7 foot tall.
    3)Mr Smith was snoring, preventing Mr Jones from getting to sleep. When he rang him, he woke him up stopping the snoring.
    4)Violent convulsions causing death. Possibly heart attack, fit, etc.
    5)They played different people, not each other
    6)Contest - the happy one is crying from joy. The others are smiling politely
    7)He was on the night shift, and shouldn't have been asleep on the job
    8)The fly was still in it.
    9)Window cleaner or someone outside, jumped into the room, rather than out of it.
    10)They're mummies. Can't remember how they died though - not a history buff.
    11)Single view video confrencing?
    12)They thought they'd be in the same condition. When the one with the dirty face looked at the one with the clean one she thought her face must have been clean. When the one with the clean face looked at the one with the dirty face, she thought her own must be dirty and went to clean it.

    *EDIT*

    After reading here, and thinking about it further,

    4) I agree with the fisherman one (it's rediculous though)
    10)They're goldfish. The bowl fell off the table and smashed.
    11)Bi lingual mother, 2 sons speaking different languages

    *EDIT*


  • #58
    ][cEMAN**
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,126 ✭✭✭][cEMAN**


    eoin_s wrote:
    He had already put sugar in the coffee before he sent it back, and could taste it when he got a replacement?

    I don't drink tea/coffee/any hot drinks (that's besides the point) but I wouldn't have thought as common practice, people test their drink before adding milk/sugar. I would have thought you add it before you start to drink.

    Hence, the fly still in there would be the most logical reason.


  • #59
    tadhgrrr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 274 ✭✭tadhgrrr


    heres a puzzle for ya :) maybe you'll think its an easy one...took me a good bit to get it though.

    Six identical looking golf ball making machines produce identical looking golf balls. However one of the machines is faulty and produces golf balls that are twice as heavy as the others.

    You have a weighing scales but can only make 1 measurement on it before it dies (stoopid scales).

    How do you figure out which golf ball machine makes the heaviest balls?


  • #60
    *Angel*
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,496 ✭✭✭*Angel*


    tadhgrrr wrote:
    heres a puzzle for ya :) maybe you'll think its an easy one...took me a good bit to get it though.

    Six identical looking golf ball making machines produce identical looking golf balls. However one of the machines is faulty and produces golf balls that are twice as heavy as the others.

    You have a weighing scales but can only make 1 measurement on it before it dies (stoopid scales).

    How do you figure out which golf ball machine makes the heaviest balls?

    How bout you trust your own judgement, ie lift them up and see which is heaviest.


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  • #61
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 95,282 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    you put 21 balls on the scale and see how much they weigh


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