Playing with Words

Tell me if you've heard this one: What animal can jump higher than a house?


Or the very classic: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and on three legs in the evening?


So, what do silly riddles have to do with writing? Pretty much everything. Go ahead, try to write one, I'll wait.


Done? How did it go? It's not very easy is it? Riddles, and other word games, have a lot to teach those willing to learn. They use the rules of language, and they twist the rules all around. They are a way of saying something without saying it. Hinting around the edges of what's really being asked, or said.


There are other games that can be played with words. Try this one on. You have a flock of geese, a herd of cows...
A **** of students.
A **** of parasites.
A ***** of ovens.
A **** of dragons.


The point of all this: playing with your language leads to a better understanding the nature of the beast you work with. I'm sure I'm not the only one that aspires to actual mastery of usage. Yes, my genre does not require it, but the better I am, the better my writing will be.


So I have homework for all of you. If you didn't already, go make a riddle. A real riddle, that contains all of the necessary information to be solved, and twisted to say something else. You're all familiar with the riddle. They're the bread and butter of every trivia show you've ever watched. So go write your own, and bring them back to us.


Just to get you started, I'll leave you with one that I wont answer, before I tell you the answers to the easy ones I've already asked.


You're stranded on a jungle island. On this island, there are two tribes of people. One tribe always tells the truth, and the other always lies, and are also cannibals. You are walking on a path through the jungle, and you come to a fork in the road. Standing at the fork is a tribesman, though you do not know of what tribe. The paths lead to each of the tribes. You can ask the tribesman one question, what do you ask?

So, what animal can jump higher than a house? Any animal; a house can't jump.
Man walks on all fours at birth, on two legs as an adult, and with a cane as an old man.
Its a riot of students, a host of parasites (nyuk nyuk), a range of ovens (do the puns burn?), and a slew of dragons.