Day Riddles

To answer these riddles, think about the days of the week, and other ways that we talk about time!

What have you seen and everyone you know has seen but nobody will not see again?

reveal/hide answer

Yesterday.

When can Friday come before Thursday?

reveal/hide answer

In the dictionary.

What four days of the week start with T?

reveal/hide answer

Tuesday, Thursday, today, tomorrow.

A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed two nights, and left on Friday. How could that be?

reveal/hide answer

The cowboy's horse was named Friday.

Name three consecutive days without mentioning Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

reveal/hide answer

Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

What do you get when you cross...

Here are some more animal-cross riddles!

What do you get when you cross a cow with an octopus?

reveal/hide answer

An animal that can milk itself.

What do you get when you cross a sheep with a porcupine?

reveal/hide answer

An animal that knits its own sweaters.

What do you get when you cross a hyena with a parrot?

reveal/hide answer

An animal that laughs at its own jokes.

What do you get when you cross an owl with an oyster?

reveal/hide answer

An animal that produces pearls of wisdom.

What do you get when you cross a rooster with a giraffe?

reveal/hide answer

An animal that wakes people on the top floor.

Latin Nursery Rhyme: Ille citharistae filius

This is another one of the Latin nursery rhymes that I found in Arundines Cami, published in 1851. It's a Latin rendition of the classic English nursery rhyme:

Toм, Tom, the piper's son,

Stole a pig, and away he run:

The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,

And Tom ran crying down the street.

While the rhymes are not as good in the Latin, there is a brilliant pun which more than makes up for it: fur it! furit!

This is not quantitative meter; instead it follows the 4-beat rhythms of the English, which occasionally violates the normal Latin word accent, but that happens in some English rhymes too. I've underlined the beats:

Ille citharistae filius,

Thomas, Thomas nominatus,

Porculo surrepto, currit:

Porcus cito manducatus,

Thomas, cito verberatus,

Ululans per vicum fur it,

Ululans per vicum furit.

Here's an English translation :-)

The cithara-player's son

Thomas, Thomas named,

The pig having been stolen, he runs.

The pig quickly eaten,

Thomas, quickly beaten,

Yelling, the thief goes through the street

Yelling, he rages through the street.

illustrations by Walter Crane

Elephants!

Here are some elephant jokes for you to try:

What animal can jump higher than an elephant?

reveal/hide answer

Any animal that can jump... because elephants don't jump.

What’s the difference between a donut and an elephant?

reveal/hide answer

You can't dip an elephant in your coffee.

What do you get when you cross a herd of elephants with a school of fish?

reveal/hide answer

Swimming trunks.

How do you know when there's an elephant under your bed?

reveal/hide answer

Your nose touches the ceiling.

If you saw nine elephants walking down your street wearing red socks, and one wearing blue socks, what would this prove?

reveal/hide answer

That 9 out of 10 elephants wear red socks.

What do you get when you cross...?

Here are some what-do-you-get-when-you-cross riddles... and they all feature animals!

What do you get when you cross a cat with a lemon?

reveal/hide answer

A sour-puss.

What do you get when you cross a chicken with a bell?

reveal/hide answer

An alarm-cluck.

What do you get when you cross a daddy-long-legs with a parrot?

reveal/hide answer

A walkie-talkie.

What do you get when you cross a duck with the desert?

reveal/hide answer

Quack-sand.

What do you get when you cross a kangaroo with a snake?

reveal/hide answer

A jump-rope.