History Main / StockLateralThinkingPuzzle

** This does not work in languages that don't have separate terms for methods of interment. If you ever want to stop a pedant in their tracks, it doesn't work in English, either- "bury"'s primary definition is "to conceal" or "to protectively store away", as with a body in a tomb. The meaning of "to put in a hole and cover with dirt" is derived from it's use to describe an interment, rather than the other way around.

** This was averted in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', when it was the answer to Final Jeopardy in Dorothy Zbornak's dream sequence. Rose Nylund's response, "Who is ''Creator/CaryGrant''?" is deemed to be the correct response by both host Creator/AlexTrebek and series creator Creator/MervGriffin.

* {{Subverted}} and parodied in ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', where it ends up not even being a riddle:

* ''Series/LimmysShow'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0hikcwjIA a sketch]] where Limmy, in the guise of an edutainment programme narrator, asks the audience whether a kilogramme of steel is heavier than a kilogramme of feathers. [[spoiler:Limmy's the only one to get the question wrong, and he seems to have a breakdown as everyone around him tries to explain "They're both a kilogramme."]]

** On an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Bart is dropped a grade and Lisa bumped up, leaving them both in the same class. This question stumps Lisa, but Bart gets it because he heard it the last time he was in that grade.

** Yet another variation has the police responding to a tip from someone claiming to have witnessed a crime. All they know is the perpetrator's whereabouts and that his name is John Smith. They arrive at an apartment and find a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic and a roofer playing poker. None of them are wearing name tags or bearing any evidence of having committed a crime. Without communicating with each other, the police immediately arrest the mechanic. This blue collar variation is pretty effective, as women in these roles are less common than female doctors.

* '''A man is condemned to be executed. He's given a choice between a [[KillItWithFire a room full of fire,]] a room [[BoomHeadshot full of expert assassins with guns,]] and [[FedToTheBeast a room full of lions who haven't eaten in three years.]] He picks the third and survives. How?''' [[spoiler: the lions had all [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster starved to death]] after three years with no food.]]

* ''Website/{{TED}}-ed'' has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya9S6PyC1Sg variant on this one]] where the protagonist and their time-displaced self need to find ''two'' places where it's possible to head 1 mile South, 1 mile East, and then 1 mile North and end up where they started, in order to activate their time machines and set everything right. [[note]]There's actually several solutions to this one, with each being -- 1 + 1/(2πN) miles north of the South Pole. [[/note]]

* Website/{{TED}} has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya9S6PyC1Sg variant on this one]] where the protagonist and their time-displaced self need to find ''two'' places where it's possible to head 1 mile South, 1 mile East, and then 1 mile North and end up where they started, in order to activate their time machines and set everything right. [[note:]] There's actually several solutions to this one, with each being -- 1 + 1/(2πN) miles north of the South Pole. [[/note]]

* Used as a gag rather than a riddle in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', in which Shadwell is described as hating all Southerners (no one knows where he's from, as his accent is from all over the UK including Wales and Scotland) and by inference, lives at the North Pole.

Solution: [[spoiler: Either the doctor [[SamusIsAGirl is the boy's mother]] (the puzzle plays on people's tendency to assume certain gender roles unless explicitly told otherwise) or, in more recent tellings, the boy [[HasTwoMommies has two dads]].]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
** Thankfully, the questions are for what is essentially a [[FighterMageThief Jedi placement exam]], so there are no "wrong" answers - but the lateral ones imply you're a character who prefers thinking your way out of problems, as opposed to finessing or forcing.
** The riddle that you can ask the prisoner in the mysterious box to get yourself free. Technically, you were trapped in a prison and had a riddle competition to decide who escapes. You ask the question, and the other fails. He mistakes it for a straight math problem and panics.

* Used as a gag rather than a riddel in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', in which Shadwell is described as hating all Southerners (no one knows where he's from, as his accent is from all over the UK including Wales and Scotland) and by inference, lives at the North Pole.

** This was averted in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', when it was the answer to Final Jeopardy in Dorothy Zbornak's dream sequence. Rose Nylund's response, "Who is ''Creator/CaryGrant'' ?" is deemed to be the correct response by both host Creator/AlexTrebek and series creator Creator/MervGriffin.

* Niven and Barnes's ''Literature/TheCaliforniaVoodooGame'' uses this as the basis for a really tough logic puzzle. The measurements are the same, but the hunter runs down a bird instead of shooting a bear. [[spoiler:Obviously [[PolarBearsAndPenguins he's near the south pole]] the solution is that he's a distance (the answer is a formula) that causes his "sideways" walking to carry him back to his original longitude.]][[note]] The starting point must be 1 + 1/(2πN) miles north of the South Pole, for positive integer N.[[/note]]

** A variant of this riddle has the food stored in the fridge and the one being asked asleep when the doorbell rings. ''Now'' what is the first thing they should open? [[spoiler:Their eyes, because they would need to wake up first before opening the opening the door for their parents, and ''then'' open the fridge to open the jam jar to make breakfast for them.]]

! '''How is this situation possible?''''

** this riddle is sometimes used as a SecretTestOfCharacter to test someones implicit sexism or the like. Unfortunately, many people (women and feminists included) fail.

Often the trick is that the question being asked isn't actually the one you think due to tricky phrasing. Many of these are heavily dependent on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use-mention_distinction use-mention distinction]], and hence work best when spoken aloud, as proper grammar necessitates the use of inverted commas which would give the game away.

* '''I have sixty cups. Two drop to the ground and shatter. How many do I have left?''' Verbal only, as the answer is [[spoiler: 4. It's six ''tea''cups.]]

** This does not work in languages that don't have separate terms for methods of interment. If you ever want to stop a pedant in their tracks, it doesn't work in English, either- [[YouKeepUsingThatWord "bury"'s primary definition is "to conceal" or "to protectively store away", as with a body in a tomb]]. The meaning of "to put in a hole and cover with dirt" is derived from it's use to describe an interment, rather than the other way around.