The Unanswerable Question

Blaze · Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:54 am Post subject:

Is it just that the man asking the question is equally wise but If the wise man answers his question the stranger will become Wiser then him. And they share the condition of "wisdom"...? maybe not...... Confused

GaretJax777 · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:37 am Post subject:

Well, we have to take into account what we know.
It doesn't matter the question, so people stop trying to guess the question!
But, for some reason the wise man didn't answer. There are many reasons he didn't answer (I.E. He was deaf the guy stank bad etc.) But, I'm betting this is one of those things where when you get the answer you go "Aaahhhh that's it". So...think about like stuff that is obvious....or something.

Unclever title · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:24 am Post subject:

Well, I do know that we don't know if or when BlueRose713 will tell us whether any of our answers are correct, cause the last post that person made in this particular riddle was in June, and it is now December, as I'm sure most of you knew.

This page had a huge problem of being inaccessible for quite a while so I doubt that BlueRose713 was able to read the answers for a long time, but now it's accessible again, but it's been a while and the author of this riddle might not have checked in in a long time...

Vertabladehot2m · Guy Who Comes A Lot Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 181

[quote="BlueRose713"]Ha! That's a good guess, but no. ^_^

Want another hint? At this rate, you won't get close.

Let me put it this way: it wouldn't have mattered what the question was. It could have been "What's the color of my hair?" and the wise man still wouldn't have answered (and no, the wise man isn't blind).[/quote]

So maybe it had to do with who the person is since any question wouldnt have mattered. If the wise man still wouldnt have answered to "What's the color of my hair?" just because he didnt want to, then the type of question had nothing to do with it. It has to have something to do with who the person is.

GaretJax777 · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:25 am Post subject:

I'll search around and see if I can find the answer somewhere else...I hope it isn't homemade

GaretJax777 · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:28 am Post subject:

I found the answer on a different site, someone already said it so....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Here's the answer

The stranger askes, "Yes or no, will the next word you say be no?"
If the wise man says yes, his answers wrong.
if you say no, then your answers wrong
Hence the unanswerable question.

GaretJax777 · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:29 am Post subject:

[quote="GaretJax777"]I found the answer on a different site, someone already said it so....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Here's the answer

The stranger askes, "Yes or no, will the next word you say be no?"
If the wise man says yes, his answers wrong.
if you say no, then your answers wrong
Hence the unanswerable question.[/quote]

Good Lord, sorry about the craptastic grammar, it was cut and pasted.

Unclever title · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:35 am Post subject:

But that did depend on the question... Hmm... oh well I don't really care much about it anyways.

GaretJax777 · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:42 am Post subject:

Yeah....hmm whatever

onenemy · New Member Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 1

pfff....A true wiseman would reply "...maybe."

Dragonizer · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject:

[quote="BlueRose713"]It's not the question or the answer itself that would hurt the stranger's feelings or cause the wise man not to respond, but how it was said. (And, a new clue) They share a condition that is the reason why the wise man is iffy about answering the question.[/qoute]

So that can't be the answer. It's not a condition, nor is it embarresing... Ah well. No other answer springs to mind, apart from the stutter one.

theintellectual · Site Regular Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 55

I think that i finally got it.

The person who asked the question was either just as wise or wiser, and thought that the old wise man was wiser than him/her. Therefore the wise old man could not answer the question.

Blaze · Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:25 am Post subject:

[quote="theintellectual"]I think that i finally got it.

The person who asked the question was either just as wise or wiser, and thought that the old wise man was wiser than him/her. Therefore the wise old man could not answer the question.[/quote]
Dude, you stole my answer type thing. Oh and according to this thing I was reading he could have been colour blind (The pessimist only sees the red light, the optimist only sees the green light but the truly wise are colour blind) Soo....thats all.

Lunchbox · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:11 pm Post subject:

The Stranger asked The stranger askes, "Yes or no, will the next word you say be no?"

if he says no then he is wrong, if he says yes he is wrong, either way his answer would be wrong there for it is an unanswerable question.

channie · New Member Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 30

alright i have some thoughts, in regards to the yes or no, will the next word you say be yes or no (or whatever the question was), couldn't the old man say neither and then explain the trick of the question and thus still reply and not be wrong,

and second thought, i read a similar riddle once but slightly different and the answer was the man had a dove behind his back and asked the wuestion is it dead or alive.

the wise man new it was alive but new there was a t4rick cause if he says it is alive the man would kill it qand show it was dead and the man would be wrong, and if he says is was dead th4e man would release it and it would fly away.

but i guess that answer depends on the wuestion also

anyway just my thoughts on the situation.

Dragonizer · Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 1:34 am Post subject:

[quote="channie"]alright i have some thoughts, in regards to the yes or no, will the next word you say be yes or no (or whatever the question was), couldn't the old man say neither and then explain the trick of the question and thus still reply and not be wrong,[/quote]

No, no, that's not right. See, answer to the question has to be either "yes" or "no"; any other answer isn't an option. So, it's a paradox and, therefore, unanswerable!

channie · New Member Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 30

ok, i suppose you are right then guess the fact that that does still depend on the question means that we still don't no for sure what the answer is then oh well Smile

Aussie.Sex · New Member Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 24

The stranger askes, "Yes or no, will the next word you say be no?"
If the wise man say yes, his answers wrong.
if you say no, then your answers wrong
Hence the unanswerable question.

remient · New Member Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Posts: 4

The question is "Can I kill you"

The truth is yes he can kill the wise man

But the wise man doesn't want ot die so he doesn't answer.

Shot in the dark

Kjell · Site Regular Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 54

LOOOOOOOLLLLLL realy, the wise man can only answer ABOUT any question, this dousent mean he can answer any question, the answer is simple, he did not know for sure.
or it was a retorical question, u seem pretty stupid when u answer to a retorical question.
Therefore he did not.
Or he dint wanted the man to know the answer to that particular question Smile

iTry · New Member Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 2

i think aussie is right