Hopefully this hasn't been posted before. Five riddles for seven-year-olds, to test their intellect (this can be found in 13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese, which in turn took it from a Japanese publication.) Here's how it works:

3 or more correct - You're an intelligent seven-year-old
1-2 correct : You're the mental equivalent of a seven-year-old, but a slow one.
0 correct - You should be expelled from elementary school

The underlined words are the key to the riddles

1 - 月は月でもみんなにきらわれる月ってどんな？
The moon's the moon, but what kind of moon is hated by everyone?

2 - シミがついていても食べられる物は何だ？
What can you eat even though it's got lots of stains on it?

3 - イヌはいくつまで数を数えられる？
Up to what number can a dog count?

4 - びっくりしてみる本って何だ？
What kind of book do you get a surprise from when you read?

5トイレにいるかみさまの名前は何だ？
What's the name of the god in the lavatory?

Answers:

1 うそつき - The riddle is playing off the sound つき、rather than talking about an actual moon. Liars are hated by everyone.

2 さしみ

3 ワン - the katakana for the English "one," is also baby-speak for dog.

4 絵本 - because え is an exclamation of surprise

5 トイレット・ペーパー - かみ can mean both God or paper, so the かみ in the toilet is "toilet paper."

Okay, fess up, would you be expelled from elementary school?
I'll post the riddles for 10 year olds next.

I only got number 3 correct

Totally bringing these up at a 合コン.

Only got 2, 3, and 5. Still think I'm slow, though, after seeing the other answers.

I'm the mental equivalent of a seven-year-old, but a slow one.

I'm with Garfield. I hate 月(曜日).

I'm apparently a slow seven year old myself. Leave it to riddles to crush my self-esteem

I only got two... They seem really obvious when you hear the answer though.

Ryuujin27 Wrote:Totally bringing these up at a 合コン.

Reaction from my female friend to one of them: くだらない・・・lol

Aijin Wrote:Okay, fess up, would you be expelled from elementary school?

I know the Japanese love exams...


but this is ridiculous!



A lot of people on Lang-8 were talking about puns because of the exam season.
Things like
勝つサンド

An octopus that you put on your desk to pass the exam
置くとパス

Am I the first to fail completely?

Splatted Wrote:Am I the first to fail completely?

I don't know who was first but I guess we can share.

It seems I have to be retroactively expelled from elementary school

I'd swear an acceptable answer to the first one should be Monday.... I hate Mondays.

kainzero Wrote:An octopus that you put on your desk to pass the exam
置くとパス

Oh wow, I haven't heard that one in ages!

Japanese certainly has far more word play than English due to more homonyms and such, but I love Shakespearean puns

Aijin Wrote:5トイレにいるかみさまの名前は何だ？
What's the name of the god in the lavatory?

The name of the god in the lavatory is トイレの神様, obviously.

got 3 correct

i had no.1 down as 月曜日 too, no.3 had me beat.

Splatted Wrote:Am I the first to fail completely?

Nope, me too!

Actually I did guess that 3) was related to "WAN" (the sound a Japanese dog makes, equivalent to the Western "woof"), but I stupidly didn't see the connection to "one". Ho hum..

Okay, here's the one for 10 year olds.

3 or more correct: Congrats, you're an intelligent ten year old!
1-2 correct: You're an unintelligent nine-year-old.
0 correct; Go back to first grade.

1 - 生まれつき，とても頭がいいサイは？
What kind of rhino is born bright?

2 - 池の中で，手まねきをしている魚はなあに？
Which fish is becking to you in the pond?

3 - いくらはれても、いたくないもの、なあに？
What never hurts no matter how much it swells?

4 - 「お」の字をつけると，急にくさくなる所は、さて、どこ？
What place suddenly smells awful if you add the character "o"

5 - いつもおしっこをしたそうな顔をしている人は？
What kind of person always looks as though they've peed their pants?


Answers:

1 - 天才

2 - コイ - as a noun it means "carp" but it's also 来い, the imperative form of "to come"

3 - 天気 - this is a play on the fact that when はれる also means "to be bright and sunny" and clear, sunny weather doesn't hurt unless you're a vampire

4 - おなら - Nara is a famous town, but おなら also means "fart"

5 - モデル - a play on 「もう出る」 meaning, "It comes out already!"

I got 1, 2, and 3 right, so I guess I'm a smart 10 year old, but not a smart 7 year old due to my results on the other one

Bah. Only got number 2 right. Stupid ten-year-olds, I could beat you up!

These are stupid... a liar isn't a kind of moon... sashimi doesn't have stains on it. Maybe these work better when you're hearing the riddle and not reading it (especially with misleading kanji).

I got 2 right from each one, 3 and 5 from the first one and 1 and 3 from the second.

I'm a stupid nine year old!!

I guess last nights studying really paid off.

Well, at least a stupid nine year old is more mentally advanced than a stupid seven year old. I'll make do with that.

I think we need a control group of ten and seven year olds for accurate assessments.

It's not kidnapping if it's for academic purposes, right?

Here's some more from the same book:

1 - いつも笑っている家族は誰？
Which member of your family is always laughing?

2 - トラックがコーナーで何か落としました。何を落としたのでしょう？
The truck dropped something at the corner. What do you think it dropped?

3 - カンはカンでも食べられるかんって何？
A can is a can, but what kind of can can you eat?

4 - しゅみの中で一番偉いしゅみは何？
Which hobby is the noblest of them all?

5 - 木は木でもなると困るキは何？
A tree's a tree, but which kind of dree do you not want to become?

Answers:

1 - ハハ

2 - スピード (as in the truck went slower, not the drug )

3 - みかん

4 - ハイキング

5 - びょうき

Woo, got four of them right this time! The only one I missed was the hiking one. That's pretty bad even for a pun. <_<

I only got #2 because I heard it before on Azumanga Daioh.

Speaking of which, the genius in that show couldn't solve any of those kinds of riddles, but the slow one could...

kainzero Wrote:I only got #2 because I heard it before on Azumanga Daioh.

Speaking of which, the genius in that show couldn't solve any of those kinds of riddles, but the slow one could...

interesting