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Topic: Family Relations riddle (Read 20916 times) |
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Jigga
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #25 on: May 8th, 2003, 12:07am » |
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Aight Guys, After reading most of the comments I think it's really simple and everytime there is a riddle people say the wording is wrong or something. Here, nothing is wrong, it's as clear as water.
Imagine that he is talking to an audience of his son's marriage and his son is standing next to him (he is refering to his son as "this man"). So now when he says "This man's father(himself) is my father's son(himself)" - he is referring to himself.
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mistysakura
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #26 on: May 8th, 2003, 12:15am » |
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my interpretation is that the riddle is asking who 'this man' is, since it's not clear enough wording.
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Speaker
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #27 on: May 8th, 2003, 11:18pm » |
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Brothers and sisters I have none
But this man's father is my father's son
This man = son of the speaker.
This man cannot equal "the speaker himself"
To support my second claim, I submit that the line about the brothers and sisters is irrelevent IF the answer is "the speaker himself" And, that information in the body of a riddle must apply to the answer. The information may be presented in a misleading way, but it cannot be ignored completely.
So, supporters of the theory that the speaker is looking in a mirror or looking at a picture of himself, need to justify the first line. Is it just to mislead, or just to rhyme. Or, and this is the core of my argument, is it information that needs to be applied to the answer?
If the first line needs to be applied, then we need to determine in what direction it points us. To the answer? Or in this case, does it point us away from wrong answers that involve nephews and other siblings.
After all, you cannot eliminate half of a riddle.
That would be like
What has an eye
But cannot see
And has no brothers and sisters?
A needle. (Correct? you decide) 
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Icarus
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #28 on: May 9th, 2003, 9:27pm » |
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[Another repetition of same old argument]
"Brothers and sisters I have none" ==> "my father's son" = me.
"This man's father is my father's son." ==> "This man's father" = me.
Therefore "This man" = my son.
[/repetition]
This is clear to anyone who doesn't get themselves mixed up in the logic. But this is not where the ambiguity they are refering to exists. What is ambiguous is the actual question asked:
"Who is the speaker talking about?"
By one interpretation, the speaker is talking about "this man", so the answer is: his son.
By another interpretation, the speaker is talking about "this man's father". The answer is: himself.
As for the mirror - there is no way that this sentence makes sense if he is looking in a mirror, even if he has brothers and sisters: brothers allow "this man" to be his nephew, but not himself.
"Looking at himself in a mirror" is the solution to a different variation of this puzzle. Since the variations sound a lot alike. and the other one is also common, people have been mistaking this puzzle for the other variation, and proclaiming the mirror answer they have heard before without examing to see that it does not fit this version.
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britney
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #29 on: Oct 5th, 2004, 5:19pm » |
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   i think that the man is talking about himself            
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The Deacon
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #30 on: Mar 2nd, 2005, 1:05am » |
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I think people are getting confused as to what this riddle is asking of us. I would assume we are trying to find the identity of "this man", although in the clue given we must first identify "this man's Father" and "my Father's son". My answer is that "this man" refers to the speaker's son.
I think a big problem is that people are assuming that the subject of the sentence is "this man", when in reality the subject is "this man's FATHER" (or simply "Father"). The words "this man's" are used like an adjective describing the subject "Father". Thus, "this man" cannot equal the speaker, because it would be saying that the speaker's father (this man's father) is equal to the son of the speaker's father (MY Father's son), which is himself. "My Father's son" cannot refer to the speaker's brother because he has none ("Brothers and Sisters I have none"). Thus, this statement is basically saying "I (the speaker) am me", which is a true statement. But we are not trying to identify the subject of the statement (which is the speaker), but rather we are trying to identify who "this man" is. Thus, although the subjects of the sentence are the speaker, the answer to the riddle is the speaker's son.
And to Jonathan_the_Red who made the argument that the "subject" and "topic" of a sentence are different and cannot be interchanged, this is true in your example of the sandwich. However, there is a difference because this riddle uses what is commonly called a "linking" verb, which includes the infinitive "to be" ("is" is the third person conjugation of this infinitive). In these cases, the "subject" and "topic" are basically equivalent and thus can technically be interchanged.
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Grimbal
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #31 on: Mar 2nd, 2005, 1:40am » |
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George W's father was another George.
Who am I talking about?
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Padzok
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #32 on: Mar 6th, 2005, 5:39am » |
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on Mar 2nd, 2005, 1:40am, Grimbal wrote:George W's father was another George.
Who am I talking about? |
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Ok, I'll bite.
You are talking about 2 people, both called George, one being the father of the other.
Was that your point? ie that it makes no sense to say that your first line is only about one individual? Or have I missed the point?
Who do you think you are talking about?
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Grimbal
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #33 on: Mar 6th, 2005, 6:49am » |
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The point is: In the problem.
"Speaker: "Brothers and Sisters, I have none. But this man's Father is my Father's son."
Who is the speaker talking about?"
The speaker is speaking not only of "this man", but also of this man's father who happens to be the speaker's father's son.
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Padzok
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #34 on: Mar 7th, 2005, 12:19pm » |
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on Mar 6th, 2005, 6:49am, Grimbal wrote:The point is: In the problem.
"Speaker: "Brothers and Sisters, I have none. But this man's Father is my Father's son."
Who is the speaker talking about?"
The speaker is speaking not only of "this man", but also of this man's father who happens to be the speaker's father's son. |
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Mmm.
Perhaps it would have been simpler if he'd just said, "Thaaat's my boy!!!!"
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mUNISH
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #35 on: Jun 6th, 2005, 11:40pm » |
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I have none means ...he has no sons ...
If
the man he is talking about is himself.That is not possible..bcoz the man would be his own son.
By my point of view the man is talking about his brothers son..
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MUNISH
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #36 on: Jun 7th, 2005, 6:39am » |
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He says Brothers and Sisters, I have None..Means
he has no brothers and sisters..
so he is talking about his son..
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River Phoenix
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #37 on: Jun 7th, 2005, 9:22pm » |
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Speaker: "Brothers and Sisters, I have none. But this man's Father is my Father's son."
Who is the speaker talking about?
Because Brothers, Sisters, and Father are all capitalized, I have to assume that they are most likely talking about the religious versions.
He is addressing the Brothers and Sisters, and saying that he has none (pudding, of course).
This man refers to Jesus, so this man's Father is God.
So the speaker's father's son is God.
Therefore the speaker is God, and his father is the father of God, and therefore came before god. A contradiction.
Therefore the question is incorrect, and any answer can satisfy a false question.
The speaker is talking about Michael Jackson.
QED
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KillerBunnies
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #38 on: Aug 4th, 2005, 9:48pm » |
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The Father is talking to his son. He is talking to his son about himself. The fact that he does mention himself doesn't not mean he is talking to himself about himself, people! He is talking to his son about his son's father, being his fathers son. Which IS himself. but doesn't change the fact that he is saying this to his son.
Anyway you look at it. The Father that does not have any brothers or sisters is talking to his son about himself. He cannot be talking to himself about himself. He is talking to his son about himself. Learn how to interpet grammar people. Jeez!
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BNC
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #39 on: Aug 5th, 2005, 7:30am » |
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on Aug 4th, 2005, 9:48pm, KillerBunnies wrote:The Father is talking to his son. He is talking to his son about himself. The fact that he does mention himself doesn't not mean he is talking to himself about himself, people! He is talking to his son about his son's father, being his fathers son. Which IS himself. but doesn't change the fact that he is saying this to his son.
Anyway you look at it. The Father that does not have any brothers or sisters is talking to his son about himself. He cannot be talking to himself about himself. He is talking to his son about himself. Learn how to interpet grammar people. Jeez! |
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And where do you see he's talking TO his son? Maybe he's talking to someone else, pointingto his son as "this man"?
Jeez!
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How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
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str2004
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #40 on: Aug 14th, 2005, 2:06am » |
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the answer is the speakers son
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elaukli
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #41 on: Mar 21st, 2013, 8:01am » |
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He Is Talking About Himself or his son depending on how you view who he is talking about
Speaker: "Brothers and Sisters, I have none. But this man's(speakers son) Father(speaker) is my Father's(speakers father) son(Speaker)."
Who is the speaker talking about?
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riddler358
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Re: Family Relations riddle
« Reply #42 on: Jun 10th, 2013, 9:40am » |
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I'd like to share with you this riddle's most popular version in my country
Here is my best effort translation:
At a painting exhibition some man was looking at a portrait.
Someone asked him: who's portrait are you looking at?
Man replied: I don't have brothers, nor sisters, but father of the man on the painting is son of my father.
Who's portrait was this painting enthusiast looking at?
Clearly this version is asking about "this man".
And about discussion here - for me phrasing of this riddle is not precise, someone mentioned situation where guy is talking to son's family and his son is standing next to him, then obviously it would be about himself. But imagining situation where guy is just telling exact same words to someone one-on-one it seems rather that the question is about "this man".
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