wu :: forums - Print Page


    
      
        wu :: forums
        (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        riddles >> what happened >> What happened III
        
(Message started by: jeremiahsmith on Sep 29^th, 2002, 11:51am)

Title: What happened III
Post by jeremiahsmith on Sep 29^th, 2002, 11:51am

A man walks into a bar and says "I want a coffee and a glass of water. But make sure the coffee is boiling hot and the water is ice-cold." The barman says "Sure thing, mr. fireman." The barman had never met him before. How did he know the man was a fireman?

A few solutions:
The canonical answer is that the man was wearing a firefighter's uniform of some sort.

Maybe the barman had seen the fireman's photo in the newspaper after a rather daring rescue or something.

Maybe the barman had been informed previously that the fireman would be coming, and what the fireman looked like.

Maybe the barman has harnessed his ESP talents and read the man's mind.

Maybe the man pulled up in a fire engine.

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by Cerberus on Apr 5^th, 2009, 7:46pm

Is there no answer that involves the drinks he ordered? What's the point of this riddle?

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by towr on Apr 6^th, 2009, 12:58am

on 04/05/09 at 19:46:57, Cerberus wrote:

Is there no answer that involves the drinks he ordered?

The drinks are probably merely for misdirection. Many of these kinds of riddles mention details that are irrelevant to the answer.

Quote:

What's the point of this riddle?

What's the point of riddles having points to them?

Actually, if you really want a point, it may be that one event following another does not imply that one causes the other. Just because the barman mentions the man is a fireman after he ordered the drinks does not imply that the barman recognized he was a fireman because of the drinks he ordered.
Which is actually something many more people should take notice of.

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by JohanC on Apr 6^th, 2009, 4:20am

on 04/05/09 at 19:46:57, Cerberus wrote:

Is there no answer that involves the drinks he ordered? What's the point of this riddle?

If you really need an answer involving every clue, maybe a slight variation on one of the above suggested solutions would do:
"Hey, bartender, at 4 o'clock I arranged to meet an old friend of mine here. I can't make it until about 15 minutes later. You'll surely recognize him being 6'8" and wearing red glasses. Meanwhile, treat him well, he prefers his coffees extremely hot and his water very cold. He got these preferences even before he became a firefighter."

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by Cerberus on Apr 6^th, 2009, 4:54am

on 04/06/09 at 04:20:12, JohanC wrote:

"Hey, bartender, at 4 o'clock I arranged to meet an old friend of mine here. I can't make it until about 15 minutes later. You'll surely recognize him being 6'8" and wearing red glasses. Meanwhile, treat him well, he prefers his coffees extremely hot and his water very cold. He got these preferences even before he became a firefighter."

"And if he were here, he'd smite the English with fireballs from his eyes, and lightning bolts from his arse!" ;D

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by Grimbal on Apr 9^th, 2009, 3:32pm

Maybe the barman was hinting at the fact that the man had his fly open. ::)

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by JiNbOtAk on Apr 14^th, 2009, 5:00am

on 04/09/09 at 15:32:05, Grimbal wrote:

Maybe the barman was hinting at the fact that the man had his fly open. ::)

New riddle : How many ways could the barman inform the man that his fly is open ? :P

Title: Re: What happened III
Post by Roy on Apr 25^th, 2009, 5:46am

You mean inform him, without being a total jackass and doing his best to humiliate the man? No clue.

Well, even though there is already a thread for this, I suppose a new one is better than sparking life into the old, forgotten one.