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        riddles >> easy >> Two men, a girl and a poem
        
(Message started by: DeMark on Sep 26^th, 2004, 10:36am)

Title: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by DeMark on Sep 26^th, 2004, 10:36am

Two men want to marry the same woman. She says to them: "Each of you write me a poem. I'm going to choose the one I like more. If I guess who wrote it, I'll marry him. If I don't guess, I'll marry the other one".

Is this fair?

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by towr on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:08am

::[hide]All's fair in love and war, so yes. :P[/hide]::

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:10am

Seems fair to me... Each of them has an equal chance of being the person she prefers, and I always feel that the fairest way to resolve a situation where one person has two suitors is to let the one person choose between their suitors rather than have them settle it between them.

And, of course, in personal issues, provided all parties are satisfied, it's no-one else's business what goes on.

Besides, as everyone [e]including Towr[/e] knows, "all's fair in love and war"

::[hide]
Of course, the poem is a red herring - the girl ends up marrying whoever she says she thinks wrote it - if they did, then she marries him; if they didn't, she marries the one who didn't write the poem. So, provided she understands her own rules, it's basically her just fishing for attention before she announces her preference...
[/hide]::

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by DeMark on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:23am

Rmsgrey, you got it. It's not fair, cause she will marry whoever she picks.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:29am

on 09/26/04 at 11:23:14, DeMark wrote:

Rmsgrey, you got it. It's not fair, cause she will marry whoever she picks.

And this is unfair because?

The woman gets whichever man she prefers. The man she picks gets the woman he wants. The only person who might not be happy with the outcome is the disappointed suitor - and he'd be unhappy anyway.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by DeMark on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:38am

Well, it's unfair in general, to both of them,before she picks. Because she doesn't pick a man, she picks a poem she likes better. If she liked one of the men more, she could choose immediately. She was undecided, so she had to pick a poem. She is happy whoever she gets, but it's not fair to the men.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by towr on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:46am

Sure it's fair, they can easily enough write a poem that includes their name, which makes it very easy for her to guess who wrote it. And if they write well enough she might pick based on that.
Besides, if they're not willing to put up with such a small request, they don't deserve her.. :P

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:48am

on 09/26/04 at 11:38:42, DeMark wrote:

Not really - either she marries the man she thinks is most likely to have written the poem she likes best - which suggests she prefers him without realising it, or she marries the man she wants to marry without reference to the poetry at all.

At worst, it's unfair to the man she doesn't pick - he writes a poem and doesn't get the woman. At best, it's a way for the woman to discover which of the two men she really prefers.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by asterix on Sep 26^th, 2004, 1:41pm

Assuming an honest girl who is actually going to pick the best poem and try to guess who wrote it, and assuming you're not allowed to name yourself in the poem, there is, of course, another way to play the game. I'd probably say it's unfair,[hide] unless deviousness is an attractive quality in a mate. Write a lousy poem but include some hints that make her think the other guy wrote it, such as a poem about how your love is like his favorite football team. It's a lot easier to write a bad poem about your rival's interests than a good poem about your love. [/hide]

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by Cathos on Sep 26^th, 2004, 9:07pm

If you wanted to be devious, couldn't you just include the other guys name in the poem?

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by raven on Sep 26^th, 2004, 11:19pm

What is fair?
By definition:
a) Having or exhibiting a disposition that is free of favoritism or bias; impartial: a fair mediator.
b) Just to all parties; equitable: a compromise that is fair to both factions.

on 09/26/04 at 10:36:59, DeMark wrote:

Two men want to marry the same woman. She says to them: "Each of you write me a poem. I'm going to choose the one I like more.

The above part could be considered fair... but only if both men consider her a fair mediator. Since both want to marry her, let us assume they do. In reality she would only be a fair mediator if she likes or dislikes both of the men equally.

Quote:

If I guess who wrote it, I'll marry him.

It's hard to consider this fair (by definition), since if she really is guessing then why write a poem to begin with, if she's already made up her mind, why write a poem to begin with.

Quote:

If I don't guess, I'll marry the other one".

This part doesn't even make sense. I suppose it could be interpreted, "If I can't guess who wrote the poem I prefer from the content's of that poem, I'll marry the other person" assuming she can guess who wrote either of the poems. That is being generous. It sounds like, if she can't guess who wrote the poem she likes, she'll just marry whichever one she chooses, which goes back to the already suggested setup.

Quote:

Is this fair?

Personally, based on the rules of the challenge, I would give this the thumbs down on being fair...

;)

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by DeMark on Sep 27^th, 2004, 5:53am

Yay! Well, I think it would be fair to say: "If I guess who wrote it, I'll marry him, and if I don't, I'll marry the one who wrote it".

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 27^th, 2004, 8:42am

But that's unfair to the woman if she does have a preference, because she then potentially has to marry the other one.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by Grimbal on Sep 27^th, 2004, 9:20am

It is only fair that the woman lets the men know beforehand that she is the kind who expects men to write poems for her and likes to bullsh*ts them in return.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by John_Gaughan on Sep 27^th, 2004, 11:47am

She could save a lot of time, work (writing poems), anticipation, etc. by just flipping a coin and getting it over with. After all, that is what this whole contest is equivalent to, assuming one of them is not skilled in poetry ;)

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by Leonid Broukhis on Sep 28^th, 2004, 3:32pm

on 09/27/04 at 05:53:07, DeMark wrote:

Yay! Well, I think it would be fair to say: "If I guess who wrote it, I'll marry him, and if I don't, I'll marry the one who wrote it".

No, I think it all boils down to: "If I guess who wrote the poem, I'll marry him, and if I don't, I'll marry the guy who did not write it" which is equivalent to "I'll marry the guy I point to", and poems are just a decoy.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by Icarus on Sep 29^th, 2004, 8:14pm

on 09/27/04 at 05:53:07, DeMark wrote:

Yay! Well, I think it would be fair to say: "If I guess who wrote it, I'll marry him, and if I don't, I'll marry the one who wrote it".

This boils down to: I'll marry whoever writes the better poem. This is fair to the guys, but it means that the guessing part is immaterial, so why bother? Of course, it does let her future hubby know what she thinks he is capable of...

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 30^th, 2004, 4:44am

Plus the supposedly "fair" version is unfair for the girl if she does have a preference but the other guy ends up writing the preferred poem - the two guys end up one happy, one unhappy either way, but if the wrong guy gets the girl, she ends up unhappy.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by Grimbal on Sep 30^th, 2004, 5:01am

I don't agree. According to the rule, whoever she picks she will marry, regardless of who wrote what.

What is unfair is that the 2 guys have no chance of ending up together. What if they are gay? ;D

And if both love the girl, it is unfair that only one of them gets to marry her and (supposedly) be happy. Fair would be if they both refrain from marrying so that none gets more than the other.

Title: Re: Two men, a girl and a poem
Post by towr on Sep 30^th, 2004, 7:51am

Or they could all marry.. (In some cultures one woman can legally marry several men)