A Fiddling Riddling Friday High-Fives Its Way To The Welcome And Waiting Weekend,

Today is another first, the first Fiddle-A-Riddle Friday. Get ready to tease your brain and be bewildered and mystified. Unless, of course, you know all the answers and are already a guessing genius. Still, it never hurts to give the old noggin a turn. So, figure for fun and take a run at these.

If you were an elephant, what would be the favorite part of your car?

The trunk, because you can use it carry things. Pachyderms love to lift, show and pack things in their trunks and the trunks of their cars. So, an elephant with its trunk in his or her car with its very useful carry-all trunk presents us with a homonym homophone with the large mammal’s flexible proboscis (trunk) in the front and the storage compartment of its vehicle (trunk) in the back. See the blog post of July 23, 2012, to learn more about these pesky homophones and which is a homonym and which is a heterograph and keep reading below to see them at riddling work.

If you were a skunk, what would be your favorite coin?

The penny, because it is the only coin that has a cent and the skunk values a scent most. Cent and scent are heterographic (different spellings) homophones (words with same sound but different meanings). You begin to suspect that riddles often rely on homophones. So, if you want to make up a riddle, find a couple homophones and have a try.

What weather does a fair like most?

Fair weather, because sunny blue skies are perfect festival weather. See, it works. I just picked two homophones (words with the same sound but different meanings) with the same spelling (homonyms), fair (for outdoor celebration) and fair (for pleasant weather), and made a riddle.

If you were a rhinoceros, what would be your favorite way to pay for your purchases?

Charge it, of course, because a rhinoceros loves to charge things. The rhinoceros puts its heads down, points its long tusk (its pen for confirming purchases), runs directly at the hunting party and picks up the goods from the fleeing porters. It works every time, if you’re a rhinoceros. If you are a human, please do not try this method to charge your payment. It is reserved exclusively for rhinoceroses.

If you were a fish, what would be your favorite country to visit?

Finland, because it is a land that is friendly to Fins. The golf courses all have Fin-handed clubs, and the fun parks all allow and encourage Fins to ride. It is truly the “Land of the Fin.” What fish with its fins wouldn’t love a fin-named land with its Fins?

And, finally, because there does appear to be a great amount of cornball in this land of homophonic riddles,

If you were a tree, what would be your favorite place to settle back on a clear night?

Hollywood, because of all the stars. You could plant your roots at Hollywood and Vine under the twinkling stars in the night sky above and shift your branches, lean back and turn your head to gaze below at the more than 2,400 terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks commemorating the brightest stars of film and cinema. If you’re lucky, a few of those stars may just walk by. Now, that would be a star-studded night sight for a tree to see.

Sometimes, the most amazing things are just a word or two away.

Shift your gaze just a little and who knows what you may see,

Grandpa Jim