Monday, October 28, 2013

"The Giraffe Riddle", my answer.

Hell with it.  I'll post this publicly now.  There's a meme going around, the "Giraffe Riddle".  Goes like this :

"Here Is the riddle: It's 3am, the doorbell rings and it's your parents and they are here for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, juice, bread and cheese. What is the 1st thing you open?"  If you get it wrong, you are "required" to change your profile pic to a giraffe for a length of time, hense the "Giraffe Riddle".

Spoiler alert ahead, you've been warned.

Back in grade school I had a particularly nasty teacher.  She decided to make a point at us by asking the students to "write instructions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich", and then forcing the students to follow their own instructions TO THE LETTER, humiliating them in front of a classroom of peers when they couldn't do the task as they had written down to the letter.  So as a result, I learned a life skill.  Never make an assumption on incomplete information when there is punishment on the line.  Especially when being distracted.

The Giraffe joke is like a lot of old distraction jokes as well.  "Ethyl and Marv are going on a picnic.  They have three children, each one married and had 3 children.  Each family has a dog.  how many people are eating at the picnic?"  Two.  Ethyl and Marv.  the rest is a distraction to make you over think.

So in this case, the base information given is "It's 3am, the doorbell rings and it's your parents and they are here for breakfast. - What is the 1st thing you open?"

You're supposed to ignore the food items listed, think outside of the box, and give an answer not chosen.  Currently, there are two answers that are "accepted".  The first answer they're looking for is "the door" (IE : You open to door to let them inside for breakfast).  The second is "your eyes" as sane people sleep at 3 AM.  The funny thing is that depending on who asks the question, one answer will be wrong, the other will be right, or visa-versa.  Hell, they can change it just to say "UR WRONG!  BE A GIRAFFE!"

I contend both answers aren't 100% correct, and here's why.  First of all, the question is making assumptions.  Remember that part above, about learning that assuming things is bad?  Yeah.  The question assumes several things like "You don't live with your parents." and "You sleep at 3 AM."  Both of which may not be the case.  So you may not need to open your door NOR your eyes.  But, let's play with the assumptions, shall we?  So let's assume that you live alone, and it's unusual for your parents to want to have a meal at 3 AM, shall we?  We're operating outside the "riddle" here, but why not.

Well you SHOULD be opening "Your heart", because it's your parents, and if you love them, you're probably wondering what the hell they're doing at your door at 3 AM and you may be concerned.  Are they ok?  Why are they at the door?  Why aren't they home?  You love them, you feel empathy for them, so you open your heart to them and invite them inside.  This is, of course, assuming you love your parents.

Not everyone gets along with their parents.  I know many people not on speaking terms with them.  They wouldn't open the door even if it was hailing outside and their parents were being beaten into bloody pulps, so they may wish to open their minds, as the parents may have something they want to say at 3 AM that simply will not wait until morning.  Or, conversely, if they came to the door at 3 AM to simply harass the kid and call them, oh I don't know, faggot or hippie or half-breed or similar, the person answering the riddle may open their phone and call the cops.

Or, if you want to take a rather macabre turn, if my parents are dead, and they show up at my door for breakfast, I might want to open a box of shotgun shells, open the gun locker, and then open fire.

So yeah, I get the riddle.  It's to fool people into the answer you think should be correct, but without specificity it's instead asking for the answer YOU think should be given.  It's a way to say "HA!  I AM SMART 'CUZ I THOUGHT OF THIS!" and, in reality, it's an open ended question that shouldn't have a "correct" answer.  Especially when people can't agree on the "right" off-answer to begin with.

I once saw a poster that said something along the lines that a teacher never knows how far their lessons will be carried.  One spiteful, jaded teacher taught me a lesson a long time ago, and I still carry it now.  So thanks, bitch.