BS: What have.......?

Subject: BS: What have.......?
From: Fergie
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 10:54 AM

A student posed this riddle in school today, it took me a while to solve it.

Riddle
What have; Atilla the Hun, Winnie the Pooh and Jack the Ripper all got in common?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 10:55 AM

The same middle name?

A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 10:56 AM

Their middle name is "the"?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 10:57 AM

Darn, Amos, I'd have beaten you to it if I wasn't on this %^&&@ dialup connection!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Fergie
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 10:58 AM

Amos either you are much brighter than me or you heard it before. Which is it?

Fergus

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 11:00 AM

but isn't Winnie's CORRECT middle name "ther"?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 11:16 AM

No, it is just that Ihave heard many many riddles which depend for effect on using language in the same way (confusing the referent and the language or spelling used to point to it).

A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 11:32 AM

gee, and I thought the answer was that they were all 'more than we could bear'....

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Cluin
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 04:33 PM

They all got away with something.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 05:05 PM

MMario is correct. Winnie the Pooh's middle name is ther. Atilla the Hun and Jack the ripper's middle names were not ther. So there must be something else they all have in common. I'm guessing it's that they were/are all every furry.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 05:07 PM

*very* furry

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Kim C
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 05:14 PM

How do you know Jack the Ripper was furry?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 06:06 PM

Just a wild guess. Maybe they all had big feet.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 06:16 PM

Consciousness. Identity. A name. A history. And they are all males.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 06:20 PM

...short on brains? very cuddly?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 06:23 PM

Honey lovers?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:11 PM

All thinks tiggers are wonderfull things?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:25 PM

My Latin copy of Winnie the Pooh gives the middle name as "ille". Since Latin os older than English, this must be his original name.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:30 PM

In your Latin copy of Winnie the Pooh, mack/misophist, how does the dialogue read when Christopher Robin explains to his father that Winnie the Pooh's middle name is "ther"?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:41 PM

He also lives under the name Sanders.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 03:41 AM

I'm gonna make a million -- get out a psychobabble self-help book that touts Mudcat as the absolute cure for depression, turn folks on, stop war... uh, the end of civilization as we know it?

Or not. But first, a nap. Thanks for the laughs. Tw

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: freda underhill
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 03:56 AM

turnips, onions and testes all got in common?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 02:08 PM

thin skins?   Tw.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 02:19 PM

They make good soup?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 02:25 PM

"And they are all males."

That's just a guess so far as Jack the Ripper is concerned.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 02:28 PM

The riddle as posed is answered as given. The fact that many of you seem to know someone else named Winnie Ther Poo has nothing to do with it. This riddle was about someone named Winnie the Poo. I believe he starred in a Disney film by the same name.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 03:41 PM

Amos, apparently you've never read Winnie the Pooh. He's the same character. While his middle name may be spelled "the", it is, in actuality, "ther". Don't blame us if you aren't familiar with the literature, the characters, or the story. The Disney film had nothing whatever to do with the actual story. Just a cheap immitation.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Fergie
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 05:05 PM

turnips, onions and testes all got in common?

Eh.... meat and two veg.

Fergus

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 03:43 AM

CarolC, you stated "Amos, apparently you've never read Winnie the Pooh. He's the same character. While his middle name may be spelled "the", it is, in actuality, "ther". Don't blame us if you aren't familiar with the literature, the characters, or the story. The Disney film had nothing whatever to do with the actual story. Just a cheap immitation".
You said don't blame us if you are not familiar etc etc.....Can I ask where you found this information?. Please visit:-
http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html   
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 09:08 AM

What have Homer and Edward VIII in common?

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 10:18 AM

Mrs Simpson..............Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 10:25 AM

qoutring from chapter one:

When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say,
"But I thought he was a boy?"
"So did I," said Christopher Robin.
"Then you can't call him Winnie?"
"I don't."
"But you said--"
"He's Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don't you know what 'ther' means?"
"Ah, yes, now I do," I said quickly;
and I hope you [referring now to readers of this book] do too,
because it is all the explanation you are going to get

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 10:40 AM

Carol C:

I don't need any character slurs about what I read as a boy; I was dutiful and diligent, and read "Now We Are Six", "The House on Pooh Corner", and "Winnie the Pooh", as the book is titled. Later, I alwso read "Winnie Ille Pu" which I hasten to point out is NOT "Winnie Iller Pu".

Now, you know darn well that whether we are describing one character or two, both names are in common useage, and legitimate labels to refer to the being -- extraordinary bear! -- named Winnie. In one of those two names, his middle name is "the". I did not cause this, but I will not be brow-beaten into saying it is not the case. Ask anyone on the street who "Winnie the Pooh" is and they will tell you without a moment's hesitation.

Do not quibble me, madam!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 10:50 AM

Amos...Winnie the pooh is the name in common usage so you were right in the first instance. Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 12:35 PM

Amos and Georgiansilver, I refer you both to the quote from Christopher Robin himself in the 21 Sep 04 - 10:25 AM GUEST post. Christopher Robin is the one and ONLY expert on all matters Pooh. You two are just people who grew up and forgot what is important and what isn't. I, on the other hand, either never grew up, or never forgot, because I remember.

And there you have it. You are both wrong.

Don't you know what 'ther' means?"

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 01:08 PM

Carol C....Who wrote the books and who were the books about? You are taking one minor thing and making it important...in your own opinion. Did you look at the website I gave in the earlier thread?
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 01:33 PM

CarolC, don't worry about Amos. He hasn't been himself lately.

You are absolutely right, and no amount of petulant pedantry can change that. To those of us in the know, it's Winnie ther Pooh.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 02:08 PM

Well, other folks use the expression "Winnie the Pooh", and they use it to refer to some bearish character who has similar adventures to those of Winnie ther Pooh.

As for CarolC's admantine insistence on being right about it, fine, she's right. But it is an obsessive and literal-minded sort of rightness, much less graceful than the Higher Rightness to which she is the usual Heiress by her nature.

Whoever it is that is being referred to by the name Winnie the Pooh, his or her middle name is obviously "the", and if CarolC knows no such being, so be it. The author -- he who Created Winne The Pooh AND Christopher Robin -- saw fit to name the book Winnie the Pooh, so perhaps the joke that started all this is about the book per se, instead of the bear.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 03:08 PM

Amos it is ther because he is a boy bear. "And that is all the explanation you are going to get."

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 03:22 PM

Guest:

Oh,. go to Hull, why don't you?


A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 03:29 PM

Thanks I was answering your question. You really have had a whack of the moany sticky.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 05:21 PM

Amos, the 'r' in 'ther' is silent.

Who wrote the books and who were the books about? You are taking one minor thing and making it important...in your own opinion.

They were written by Christopher Robin's father about Christopher Robin, and about what Christopher Robin had to say about his bear named Pooh. It's hardly a minor thing. It's very important, and that's not my opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 05:39 PM

I have, as an antique dealer, owned many of the early books....As I recollect, the books are about Winnie the Pooh........not ther as you are saying. Also Winnie the Pooh is in common usage. I don't doubt that the conversation took place between CR and his dad but the books refer to Winnie the Pooh...yes or no?

Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Chris Green
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 05:39 PM

What have an OFSTED inspector (UK school inspector) and a cosmetic surgeon got in common?

One tucks features whereas the other.....

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:17 PM

aaargggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....in the very first chapter of the first Winnie the Pooh story we get the explanation of his name.
AA Milne asks Christopher Robin what he has called the bear that has become his faithful friend. Christopher Robin says he is called 'Winnie.'
His father says that sounds like a girls name, and he thought the bear was a boy.
To which Christopher Robin replies.."His name is Winnie Ther Pooh, don't you know what ther means?"
His father the narrator of the tale then says.." Of course I do". And as an aside to the readers he adds.."And that is all the explanation you are going to get."

But don't forget he also lives under the name Sanders.

Time for a hunny sandwich and a lie down.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:29 PM

GUEST, 21 Sep 04 - 06:17 did a perfect job of setting you straight on this one, Georgiansilver, and it therefor requires no further comment from me.

Bears and little boys are not the same thing as fathers.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Amos
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:39 PM

Guest:

Sorry -- please accept apologies for my shortness.

Thanks for the edification, also!


A

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:43 PM

What do Jimmy the Greek, Popeye the Sailorman and Henry VIII have in common?

Seamus

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:55 PM

Not double dactyls, that's for sure! Only Popeye the Sailorman has those.

(Thanks, Seamus, for the heads-up about a higgledy piggledy possibility I had not considered.)

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 07:16 PM

No problem Amos! Please accept my forgetting to sign in. I am obviously a guest of very little brain....now cheer up, and that's an order. :)

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 07:19 PM

Yes I know what you are saying and agree but the common usage of the name is Winnie the Pooh....and always will be. I am not nitpicking it is a fact. Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 07:37 PM

Time for another hunny sandwich..........

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 07:55 PM

Georgiansilver, ask McGrath of Harlow to explain to you how irony works. He knows all about it. (Hint: this debate has never, at any time... at least from my perspective... been a serious one. It's a larf.)

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Chris Green
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 08:04 PM

Whats the difference between a footspa and a bodhran player?

One bucks up the feet, whereas the other....

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 10:26 PM

I resemble that remark. I'm married to a bodhran player and he doesn't -- um, well -- he does -- uh --I'm not here. Tw

Subject: RE: BS: What have.......?
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 11:08 PM

P.S. If we really want to get pedantic about it, "the" is not really the middle name of either Atilla the Hun nor Jack the ripper. It's a joke.

;-)