Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 August 1

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August 1

A riddle that (only?) native speakers can solve.

I'M SOMETHING. I KISS MY MOTHER BEFORE I DIE. WHAT AM I? The answer should be a MATCH STICK, but why? (I'm not a native English speaker). 2A06:C701:7452:1100:C19F:7292:E0F:18EE (talk) 11:28, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

What publication is this in? Does it just give the riddle and the answer with no word of explanation? 91.234.214.10 (talk) 11:52, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

See here, question 11#. 2A06:C701:7452:1100:C19F:7292:E0F:18EE (talk) 14:54, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I don't think you have to be a native speaker to figure it out, but like many riddles, it's based on pretty strained, figurative reasoning. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:10, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I can't see the mother here. 2A06:C701:7452:1100:C19F:7292:E0F:18EE (talk) 14:55, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Presumably the "mother" here is the matchbox. Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:16, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Got it! 91.234.214.10 (talk) 12:45, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

In what variety, is the matchbox called "mother"? Again, I'm not a native speaker. 2A06:C701:7452:1100:C19F:7292:E0F:18EE (talk) 14:49, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I'm not aware of any such variety. I think it's just not a very good riddle. --Trovatore (talk) 15:00, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

What surprises me, is that this riddle appears in some websites, as a question that should be answered, and all of the respondents gave the same answer. But you're right, it seems that no variety uses this term, AFAIK. HOTmag (talk) 15:08, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Thank you Trovatore and HOTmag. 2A06:C701:7452:1100:C19F:7292:E0F:18EE (talk) 15:12, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Here's another riddle. How do you know that HOTmag and 2A06:C701 are one and the same? 91.234.214.10 (talk) 15:26, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I have no idea who the OP is. Maybe what made you think so, is my correction of a grammatical mistake the OP has made? Anyway, if the OP was not satisfied with this correction, they could revert it, but they didn't revert when they thanked me and the other user. HOTmag (talk) 15:40, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Some of the riddles feature nonstandard English:

3. I am something everybody like me but when they see me they ran away. What  am I? And: EXCRETE

The sentence is ungrammatical, "And" is not an abbreviation for "Answer", and excrete is not a noun.  --Lambiam 15:58, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Yep. Btw you can find this riddle in many other websites, written in standard English. Like this one (the fifth riddle). HOTmag (talk) 16:15, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

It seems that "my mother" is equivalent to "the place I came from". HOTmag (talk) 15:46, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

It's a play on the match coming out of the matchbox (its "mother", which is kisses (strikes). MallardTV (talk) 18:53, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

A whole other meaning of "matchmaker". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:48, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

My first question ("Am I right?") was not about "opinion", but rather about whether my calculation was correct, algebraically and arithmetically and logically. As for my last question, it seems you didn't interpret me well. For the correct interpretation, please see the second paragraph - of my previoius response you've just responded to. 2A06:C701:7463:9900:11BA:FAE2:6F7E:5413 (talk) 18:02, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

I've already approved your answer, in my previous response, so I wonder why you had to repeat the same answer. I only added that also my answer (that preceded yours) was correct. HOTmag (talk) 18:59, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

Don't tell me that the above two responses are from different people. 91.234.214.10 (talk) 17:35, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. Your second quotation is mine, but I'm not familiar with your first quotation. Anyway, how is all of that related to the topic? If you have any further personal comments, you should only ask me about them on my talk page, not here. HOTmag (talk) 18:15, 1 August 2024 (UTC)