riddle me this

[Robert Cuenca]

I have a riddle that I was given YEARS ago and could never figure out, so I do NOT know the answer. Fortunatly its easy enough to know when someone nails it.



" THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE HAS ONLY THREE WORDS THAT END IN "-GRY"



1) ANGRY

2) HUNGRY

3) ???????



I have this riddle posted on Tony Robbins discussion board. Hes a motivational speaker and there are lots of "intellectuals" that frequent there. Lets see if we cant show them up!

 

[Nelson Atwell]

The answer is on the internet of course. Don't read the link if you don't want any clues.

 

[Jeff C]

Aggry.



It's a kind of bead that was used in money systems back in the day when man was just beginning, like 10,000+ B.C.





Man, I never thought that "Technology in Civilization" class I had last fall would come in handy for anything. Still didn't want to learn those 600 vocab words for the final though, but this was one of them...Yay!

 

[Robert Cuenca]

Jeff C,



Your wrong buddy, lol. Not trying to piss you off, but this is one of those "riddles gone wrong" situations.



Remember, its supposed to be a common word that was already used in that sentance. I have never heard of aggry until researching this.



I have now found the answer.

 

[Yardsale]

"It's a kind of bead that was used in money systems back in the day when man was just beginning, like 10,000+ B.C.", so what about this says an English word???

 

[Jeff C]

Ok, but when I looked it up, I discovered that you did not give the correct version of the joke. Not to piss you off, but if for us to get the answers we need the right question/riddle.



Yardsale, that is in the English language. That may not have been what they called it, but that is what we call it. Just because it is the name of something that is not English, does not mean that the word itself is not in our language. The fact that I can say it and type it on an English keyboard. Granted, I could type in Spanish or French if i knew the right keys, but...

 

[Robert Cuenca]

JeffC, by all means, your right, and this isnt to piss either of us off! lol



After posting this here and on another board I found out what the deal is this this riddle. And i will answer it here, just so that all of you know, this is perplexing quite a few people.



By the way, Jeff Cs answer, is a possible answer depending on how the riddle is worded. The original intention was to throw you off with the words ending in -gry. The truth of the matter is, although Jeff knows of one, there is no third english word ending in -gry, but here is where the correct answer lies here:



"There are three words in English that end in GRY, hungry and angry are two, what is the third?"



Much effort has gone into finding the word and various pseudo-medical or otherwise obscure words that purport to fit the bill have been put forward. The confusion comes from the fact that the version of the riddle in circulation isn't the original and misses a vital part of the wording. In its original form the riddle went like this:



"Think of words that end in GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."



You will have realised by now that it's all a linguistic trick and the the third word in 'the English language' is of course 'language'.



you see, The words angry and hungry throw you off to focusing on GRY. When reading the second sentance by itself it makes sense:



There are only three words in THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.



So it seems like this riddle became overly complicated by changing the wording around being retold...I guess that would make it harder to figure out, lol.



On the same note, "Whats the name of the tomb that Grant was buried in?"

as opposed to the typical, "whose buried in Grants tomb" could create similiar consequences. God bless the internet!

 

[Robert Cuenca]

again, there are different answers depending on how the questions is phrased, here are some more examples, notice JeffCs answer is there!

 

[Jeff C]

I didn't think anyone got burried in tombs. They're above ground, right?

 

[Nelson Atwell]

tomb (tūm) pronunciation

n.



1. A grave or other place of burial.

2. A vault or chamber for burial of the dead.

3. A monument commemorating the dead.



[Middle English, from Old French tombe, from Late Latin tumba, from Greek tumbos.]



Basically, the tomb is the enclosure or void within which a person is buried. It can be above ground in a mausoleum, or below ground in a grave.

 

[Dale Carter]

Everyone stand back, Jeff C is on fire!!!!



Although Nelson offers a more complete definiton, in Jeffs defense the primary definiton of bury



bury - To place in the ground: bury a bone.



Secondary or colloquial;

To place (a corpse) in a grave, a tomb, or the sea; inter.

To dispose of (a corpse) ritualistically by means other than cremation.

To conceal by or as if by covering over with earth; hide: buried her face in the pillow; buried the secret deep within himself. See Synonyms at hide1.

 

[Jeff C]

Dale, being from New Orleans, almost all of my family except for my brother, sister, and my parents, lives there. My great grandparents are burried there, above ground, as is everyone in New Orleans.



On the first question, I just lucked out having that as a vocab, b/c there is no way in h3ll would have known that word on my own.

 

[Yardsale]

Jeff C - true (to both - gotta have the correct question).