Q: What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house?
A: Any, a house cannot jump.
I though I read horse the first time around.
A: Any, a house cannot jump.
I though I read horse the first time around.
What 4 legged animal can jump higher than...
- Thread starter PandaBear
- Start date
- Status
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Q: What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house?
A: Any, a house cannot jump.
I though I read horse the first time around.
A: As the joke is written, the answer is that no animal can.
Maybe the joke should have read, "What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can?"
Q: What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house?
A: Any, a house cannot jump.
I though I read horse the first time around.
A: As the joke is written, the answer is that no animal can.
Maybe the joke should have read, "What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can?"
Originally Posted By: tonycarguy
A: As the joke is written, the answer is that no animal can.
Actually, I puma can jump up to 15 feet, so if it were as smaller ranch home it's entirely possible that a puma could jump higher than the house.
Therefore the original question is correctly worded, but both the the original poster's answer and yours are not correct, depending on the size of the house (which was never specified).
A: As the joke is written, the answer is that no animal can.
Actually, I puma can jump up to 15 feet, so if it were as smaller ranch home it's entirely possible that a puma could jump higher than the house.
Therefore the original question is correctly worded, but both the the original poster's answer and yours are not correct, depending on the size of the house (which was never specified).
Yeah, it should be "higher than a house can", i saw it at work but didn't copy it down exactly.
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Yeah, it should be "higher than a house can", i saw it at work but didn't copy it down exactly.
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Anyway, riddles like that remind me of Blaine the Mono, the retarded monorail in S.K.'s The Dark Tower saga.
How about another riddle that most English speakers have come across during their literary explorations? When is a door not a door?
Yeah, it should be "higher than a house can", i saw it at work but didn't copy it down exactly.
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Anyway, riddles like that remind me of Blaine the Mono, the retarded monorail in S.K.'s The Dark Tower saga.
How about another riddle that most English speakers have come across during their literary explorations? When is a door not a door?
The joke has been around in various forms for at least 4 decades that I know.
"What animal can jump higher than a house ?" works perfectly.
"Can an elephant jump higher than a house ?" throws some ambiguity into the question.
But yes, even ants can jump higher than a house.
"What animal can jump higher than a house ?" works perfectly.
"Can an elephant jump higher than a house ?" throws some ambiguity into the question.
But yes, even ants can jump higher than a house.
I read on the 'net that elephants can't jump..
When geese fly south in the winter you often see them flying in the shape of a "V" except one leg of the "V" is longer than the other; why is that?
There are more geese on that side.
There are more geese on that side.
Originally Posted By: Volvo_ST1
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Nope, that's the main reason why it works, because people tends to misread it as a "horse" rather than a "house", it make grammatical sense, but not logical sense, but works because we missed the spelling in our mind.
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Nope, that's the main reason why it works, because people tends to misread it as a "horse" rather than a "house", it make grammatical sense, but not logical sense, but works because we missed the spelling in our mind.
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: Volvo_ST1
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Nope, that's the main reason why it works, because people tends to misread it as a "horse" rather than a "house", it make grammatical sense, but not logical sense, but works because we missed the spelling in our mind.
It doesn't work on anybody who has a marginal grasp of grammar, for example, small children and people who would be unable to pass an ESL exam. Of course, riddles for children often depend on perceived ambiguity.
My suggestion was obviously not how to formulate a riddle, rather it was how to say the sentence grammatically correct without the perceived ambiguity. I say "perceived," because the original sentence is not ambiguous, but just plain doesn't make sense.
Originally Posted By: Volvo_ST1
"What 4 legged animal can jump higher than a house can" is grammatically incorrect with or without "can." The sentence implies that a house can jump, which obviously makes zero sense.
The question should be, "What four-legged animal can jump higher than a house is?"
Nope, that's the main reason why it works, because people tends to misread it as a "horse" rather than a "house", it make grammatical sense, but not logical sense, but works because we missed the spelling in our mind.
It doesn't work on anybody who has a marginal grasp of grammar, for example, small children and people who would be unable to pass an ESL exam. Of course, riddles for children often depend on perceived ambiguity.
My suggestion was obviously not how to formulate a riddle, rather it was how to say the sentence grammatically correct without the perceived ambiguity. I say "perceived," because the original sentence is not ambiguous, but just plain doesn't make sense.
Elephants can't jump.
But that is because they don't have to!
But that is because they don't have to!
Last edited:
Last edited by a moderator:
^^^^^^I did not know my mil likes to jump on trampoline...
- Status
