[Mr T.]

Imported post

OK, whilst we're all sitting around troughing our Kendall Mintcake at Hodge Close on Saturday, here's a little brain-teaser that GBS came up with in 1924 as a ruse to the chaps in his St James Club. He hypothesised that you could, indeed, spell the word 'fish' thus 'ghoti'.

Can any one guess how we might get the desired answer?? Gavster? Fi?

If no one's got it by stumps tomorrow, I'll provide the answer. TTFN.

 

[Driftwood]

Imported post

WARNING! The answer is below so don't scroll down unless you want to know.....




















GH can have an "ef" sound at the end of a word as in "rough" ,"cough" ,"laugh", etc. GH can also have an "ef" sound in the middle of a word as in "roughage" and "laughing". However, GH never has an "ef" sound at the beginning of a word. It cannot be used that way. It is always preceded by a vowel!

Though there are few examples, o can have an "i" sound as in "women".

TI, on the other hand, cannot be used at the end of a word. It must be followed by a vowel! In fact, it isn't actually "ti" that has the sh sound, it is the combination of i and another vowel, the "t" is actually almost silent as in the common construction "tion". So you see, ti alone doesn't have an "sh" sound it is the combination of t, i, and another vowel (usually o) that has an sh sound and it must be followed by at least one more letter.

People don't think of "fish" when they see "ghoti" because "gh" and "ti" are never used that way!

In short, even in the world of irregular English spelling, you cannot spell fish "ghoti" any more than you can spell it "OLJHGOIUZXX". The latter makes just as much sense as the former.

You could spell fish "phoche" (PHoto wOmen quiCHE), but why would you want to?

C minus Bren, must try harder.... Saw this one a while back by email - Sorry!


(Edited by Driftwood at 8:21 pm on Nov. 14, 2002)

 

[Driftwood]

Imported post

300 years ago there lived a king of ill heart and much pride. He had a daughter, whom he had promised to a rich neighbor, but she had a different plan: she fell in love with a plain lad, a blacksmith named Kecho. The lovers tried to run to the mountains but were caught.

Angered, the king decided to execute Kecho. However, to not appear as a cruel tyrant before his daughter and the people, and to show the blacksmith as intellectually unworthy for marriage to royalty, he let Kecho decide his own execution based on his wits. The next day he had Kecho placed in a room with nine doors. Each door led to a single room. One of the rooms contained the princess while the rest of the rooms were either empty or contained a tiger. Above each door was a sign.


Here's a list of the signs:
Room I: The lady is an odd-numbered room.
Room II: This room is empty.
Room III: Either sign on Room V is right or sign on Room VII is wrong.
Room IV: Sign on Room I is wrong.
Room V: Either sign on Room II or sign on Room IV is right.
Room VI: Sign on Room III is wrong.
Room VII: The lady is not in Room I.
Room VIII: This room has a tiger and Room IX is empty.
Room IX: This room has a tiger and sign on Room VI is wrong.



The king told Kecho, "The sign on the door of the room containing the princess is true; the signs on the doors of all the rooms containing the tigers are false; while those on the empty rooms can be either true or false."

The king even gave Kecho a hint and told him whether Room VIII was empty or not. Kecho must now open doors until he finds the princess or a tiger and his death.


Which door should he choose?

 

[Driftwood]

Imported post

Here's another....

This quiz is supposed to have been written by Einstein. He said that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz. Could you be among the other 2%?

There are 5 houses, each is a different colour.
In each house lives a person of a different nationality.
These 5 owners all drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
No owner has the same pet, smokes the same brand of cigar or drinks the same drink as another owner.

1: The Briton lives in a red house.
2: The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3: The Dane drinks tea
4: The green house is on the left of the white house (they are also next door to each other)
5: The green house owner drinks coffee
6: The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7: The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8: The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk
9: The Norwegian lives in the first house
10: The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats
11: The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
12: The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13: The German smokes Prince
14: The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15: The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.


The question is: WHO KEEPS FISH?

 

[Dr Stevil]

Imported post

Re Brens post, it's still a good one though!
Some good ones there Drift, will have to spend some time on those (when I have time that is)

You like brain teasers - here's my favourite:
There are three boxes, each is labelled wrongly, the labels say 1) nuts, 2)bolts 3) nuts and bolts. What is the minimum number of "picks" you can make in order to identify which box is which and which boxe(s) do the 'pick(s)' come from ?

Assume one item per 'pick' and nowt silly, this is a logic puzzle not a wind-up .

Steve


(Edited by Steve W at 8:04 pm on Nov. 14, 2002)

 

[Mr T.]

Imported post

Oi Drift!!!

It was supposed to be a laugh you muppet! Your rationale is flawed as well mate when it come to construction - 'ti' is essential to the 'sh' sound in a word ending in 'tion', as without it, the sounding becomes merely 'ion'!!

Sorry mate, I'm still with GBS on this one. Still looking for that lift Drift?? Then wind ya kneck in.

 

[Driftwood]

Imported post

</span>

Quote[/b] ]Quote: from Bren Tierney on 8:02 pm on Nov. 14, 2002
Then wind ya kneck in.

<span =''>Nah, more fun running you out a yarn to bite! Did have me moderately amused but too much coffee has been consumed early on it the day (from my nightshift perspective) so I'm running on double quick time.

Cheers for the lift Bren, means Ems can have a decent weekend too.

Catch you a'morra - arriving Andy's circa 5pm

 

[Lou]

Imported post

Drift...dontcha have to tell us what the king told Kencho??  Is room VIII empty or not?!

 

[Dr Stevil]

Imported post

Isn't that the first part of the puzzle? I dunno haven't got time to work it out at the mo.
BTW don't anyone post the answer when they've worked it out, I plan to tackle that puzzle next week
Cheers
Steve

 

[Julianne]

.