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        riddles >> what happened >> Hotdog Riddle
        
(Message started by: KenYonRuKu on Feb 3^rd, 2004, 6:51pm)

Title: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 3^rd, 2004, 6:51pm

A hotdog seller is at a baseball game. A customer approaches his stand and orders a hotdog, and the hotdog seller says "Certainly, Zen Master".

How does the hotdog seller know that the man is a Zen Master?...

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Icarus on Feb 3^rd, 2004, 8:58pm

This is fairly old joke, but maybe some few have never heard it. It's all one to me.

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Cathos on Feb 4^th, 2004, 12:17am

hmmm...

I've actually studied Zen, and I keep trying to link that to the answer, but that's probably just a red herring, right?

Is [hide] the customer and the seller the same person, a zen master, and he's talking to himself?

or... the hotdog seller is a student under the zen master, and they happen to meet at the game (or he's just famous)

or... the customer is wearing a tag that says "Hello My Name Is: Zen Master"

or... the promissing young student recognizes the innate capacity of all men to become zen masters, the way Buddhist monks bow to each other because they all have the potential to be Bhuddhas

or... the man has surpassed the first (six?) ranks of Tozan and is now truely living the middle way, returning from the relative isolation and solitary comntemplation of monastic life to live among the community so others may benefit from his inherantly good actions
[/hide]

ok, I think I'm overanalyzing the hell out of this :o

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 4^th, 2004, 10:21am

Cathos: No, to all of your questions. The answer is a lot more simple than that... ;)

Icarus: An old joke, true, but a good one, neh? :)

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 8^th, 2004, 10:36am

Would anyone care to put forward the answer?... :)

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Icarus on Feb 8^th, 2004, 12:28pm

The problem with turning this joke into a puzzle is that for the exact reason it works as a joke, it misleads as a puzzle.

The hotdog seller actually has no reason for recognizing the customer as a Zen master, as the clue he gets is something he hears all the time from customers who are not Zen Masters. But coming from a Zen master, it could mean something different.

Try the puzzle this way: "What did the Zen Master say to the hotdog vendor?"

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Cathos on Feb 8^th, 2004, 3:38pm

This one has been bugging me for a while, I have the feeling it's going to end up being some sort of pun though... So what does the Zen Master say? Did he ask what was in a hotdog? That is one of life's great mysteries :)

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by towr on Feb 8^th, 2004, 11:03pm

the version of the riddle I know must go differently than the one you know..

::[hide]The Zen Master is visiting New York City from Tibet. He goes up to a hotdog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything."

The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen Master, who pays with a $20 bill.

The vendor puts the bill in the cash box and closes it. "Where's my change?" asks the Zen Master.

The vendor responds, "Change must come from within."[/hide]::

Of course Zen masters oughtn't eat hotdogs to begin with, afaik..

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 9^th, 2004, 10:31am

Yes, Towr, you are correct!

The answer is: [hide] The hotdog seller knew the man was a zen master because he said "Make me one with everything"... [/hide]

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by towr on Feb 9^th, 2004, 10:43am

I must be missing something then, as I don't see how that line is any clue to why he would be a zen master..

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 9^th, 2004, 11:14am

The ultimate purpose of Zen is to achieve enlightenment - in very simplistic terms "to become one with everything in the universe".

Therefore, when the customer said "Make me one with everything" the hotdog seller interpreted it as "Give me enlightenment" as well as "Give me a hotdog with all the extras".

Obviously, the hotdog seller would have to have a basic understanding of Zen to be able to make such a quip - but here am I, sounding like Icarus! :o

I can see, in hindsight, that my initial wording was a little misleading. But, as this is a riddle site and not a joke site, I thought it best to phrase it as such. Gomen nasai...

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by John_Gaughan on Feb 9^th, 2004, 11:29am

on 02/09/04 at 11:14:48, KenYonRuKu wrote:

But, as this is a riddle site and not a joke site, I thought it best to phrase it as such.

True, but I think the people here like geeky jokes. There are a couple threads of jokes already.

You can always post to the general forum if it isn't a riddle.

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Cathos on Feb 9^th, 2004, 11:51am

Oh geez... "change comes from within" :P

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Icarus on Feb 9^th, 2004, 5:39pm

Turning the joke into a puzzle is not my objection, but rather the idea that the phrase "make me one with everything" should tip off the hotdog vendor - whatever his background and knowledge - that the speaker is a Zen Master.

Since this is a phrase the vendor can expect to hear from many customers who are not Zen Masters, the suggestion that hearing it WOULD tip him off - necessary for this to work as a puzzle - does not make sense.

It's an okay joke (I had heard the rest of it before, but forgotten what the second punchline was), and it might make a descent riddle, but it needs to be phrased differently to do so.

Quote:

Of course Zen masters oughtn't eat hotdogs to begin with, afaik..

And how is a Zen master to become one with everything if he is not allowed to become one with a hotdog? ;)

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Cathos on Feb 10^th, 2004, 10:47am

One need not eat the Himalayas or drink the Pacific to become one with them :P

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 10^th, 2004, 6:53pm

Just for posterity, Icarus, how do you like your hotdogs?

Title: Re: Hotdog Riddle
Post by Icarus on Feb 10^th, 2004, 9:02pm

As I find most things with any sort of vinegar, mayonaise, or mustard related flavor completely inedible, I eat them with only ketchup (I suppose onions would be okay, but I didn't eat them as a kid and am too hide-bound now to change). The other requirement is that they be all-beef and grilled, not boiled. Anything else, and I'd rather pass.