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Riddle
A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and ''conundra'', which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian, Dutch, and Filipino sources amongst many others. Many riddles and riddle-themes are internationally widespread. In the assessment of Elli Köngäs-Maranda (originally writing about Malaita, Malaitian riddles, but with an insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social norms, "riddles make a point of playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Riddle Of The Sphinx
A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, the haunches of a lion, and the wings of a bird. According to Greek myth, she challenges those who encounter her to answer a riddle, and kills and eats them when they fail to solve the riddle. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. In Egyptian mythology, in contrast, the sphinx is typically depicted as a man (an androsphinx ()), and is seen as a benevolent representation of strength and ferocity, usually of a pharaoh. Unlike Greek or Levantine/Mesopotamian ones, Egyptian sphinxes were not winged. Both the Greek and Egyptian sphinxes were thought of as guardians, and statues of them often flank the entrances to temples. During the Renaissance, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival in European decorative art. During this perio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Oedipus And The Sphinx Of Thebes, Red Figure Kylix, C
Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. The story of Oedipus is the subject of Sophocles' tragedy ''Oedipus Rex'', which is followed in the narrative sequence by ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and then ''Antigone''. Together, these plays make up Sophocles' three Theban plays. Oedipus represents two enduring themes of Greek myth and drama: the flawed nature of humanity and an individual's role in the course of destiny in a harsh universe. In the best-known version of the myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Laius wished to thwart the prophecy, so he sent a shepherd-servant to leave Oedipus to die on a mountainside. However, the shepherd took pity on the baby and passed him to another shepherd who gave Oedipus to King Polybus and Queen Merope to raise as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Riddle Joke
A riddle joke, joke riddle, pseudo-joke or conundrum is a riddle that does not expect the asked person to know the answer, but rather constitutes a set-up to the humorous punch line of the joke.Mac E. Barrick, "Racial Riddles & the Pollack Joke", ''Keystone Folklore Quarterly'', Volume 15, Issue 1, 1970pp. 3–15/ref> It is one of the four major types of riddles, according to Nigel F. Barley.Nigel F. Barley (1974), "Structural Aspects of the Anglo-Saxon Riddle", ''Semiotica'' 10 (2) There are many cycles of jokes in the form of a conundrum, such as elephant jokes, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and lightbulb jokes. Joke cycles implying inferiority or other stereotypes of certain categories of people, such as blonde jokes or ethnic jokes (such as Polack jokes), have a considerable number of joke riddles. Types * Elephant joke * Lightbulb joke * Newspaper riddle * "Why did the chicken cross the road?" * Radio Yerevan jokes Abstraction In areas which have hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Proverb
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. Collectively, they form a folklore genre, genre of folklore. Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact. In the West, the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs. Not all Biblical proverbs, however, were distributed to the same extent: one scholar has gathered evidence to show th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Archer Taylor
Archer Taylor (August 1, 1890September 30, 1973) was one of America's "foremost specialists in American and European folklore","Archer Taylor, UC professor", ''The San Francisco Examiner'', 2 October 1973, p. 49. with a special interest in cultural history, literature, proverbs, riddle A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...s and bibliography. Early life and education Taylor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 1, 1890. He enrolled at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, graduating with a B.A. and M.A. in German. He then taught German at Pennsylvania State College. He went on to Harvard University, receiving his Ph.D. degree in German in 1915 with a dissertation on the fairy tale motifs in the Wolfdietrich epics. At Harvard, he studied under such famous scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Droodles
''Droodles'' was a syndicated cartoon feature created by Roger Price and collected in his 1953 book ''Droodles'', though the term is now used more generally of similar visual riddles. Form The general form is minimal: a square box containing a few abstract pictorial elements with a caption (or several) giving a humorous explanation of the picture's subject. For example, a Droodle depicting three concentric shapeslittle circle, medium circle, big squaremight have the caption " Aerial view of a cowboy in a Port-a-john."Price, Roger. ''Droodles'', Simon & Schuster, 1953. Origins The trademarked name "Droodle" suggests "doodle", "drawing" and "riddle".Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhoj, ''Riddles: Perspectives on the use, function and change in a folklore genre'', Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), p. 62, http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/. However, the form of the droodlea riddle expressed in visual formhas earlier roots, for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Puzzle
A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology. Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious mathematical or logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research. Etymology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' dates the word ''puzzle'' (as a verb) to the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the ''OED'' was in a book titled ''The Voyage of Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master'' (published circa 1595). The word later came to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Charades
Charades (, ). is a parlor game, parlor or party game, party word game, word guessing game. Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the whole phrase together, while the rest of the group guessed. A variant was to have teams who acted scenes out together while the others guessed. Today, it is common to require the actors to mime their hints without using any spoken words, which requires some conventional gestures. Puns and visual puns were and remain common. History Literary charades A charade was a form of literary riddle popularized in France in the 18th century where each syllable of the answer was described enigmatically as a separate word before the word as a whole was similarly described. The term ''charade'' was borrowed into English from French in the second half of the eighteenth century, denoting a "kind of riddle in which each syllable of a word, or a complete w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Elli Köngäs-Maranda
Elli-Kaija Köngäs-Maranda (11 January 1932, Tervola, Finland – 1 November 1982, Québec City, Canada) was an internationally renowned anthropologist and feminist folklorist. She studied Finnish language and folklore at the University of Helsinki, where she received her B.A. in 1954 and her M.A. in 1955. She continued her studies in the United States of America and did her doctoral dissertation in 1963 at Indiana University. She was a lecturer at Columbia University and a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University. Köngäs-Maranda was elected a Fellow of the American Folklore Society. The Society's Women's section inaugurated 1983 two prizes in her memory. Research Elli Köngäs-Maranda published books on Finnish-American folklore, theory and practice of riddle analysis, myth and art as teaching materials and structural models in folklore, including: * Elli-Kaija Köngäs-Maranda, ''Finnish Folklore Reader and Glossary'', Indiana University Publications: Uralic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Alan Dundes
Alan Dundes (September 8, 1934 – March 30, 2005) was an American folklorist. He spent much of his career as a professional academic at the University of California, Berkeley and published his ideas in a wide range of books and articles. He has been hailed as "the most renowned Folklorist of his time". Career Dundes attended Yale University, where he studied English. Sure that he would be drafted upon completion of his studies, Dundes joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and trained to become a naval communications officer. When it turned out that the ship he was to be posted to, stationed in the Bay of Naples, already had a communications officer, Dundes asked what else that ship might need, not wanting to give up such a choice assignment. He then spent two years maintaining artillery on a ship in the Mediterranean. Upon completion of his service, Dundes attended Indiana University Bloomington to pursue a Ph.D in folklore. At Indiana, he studied under the folklorist, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Robert Petsch
August Ferdinand Robert Petsch (born Berlin 4 June 1875, died Hamburg 10 September 1945) was a German researcher of Germanic culture and folklore. Life and work Petsch studied in Berlin with Erich Schmidt and at the University of Würzburg, where he received his doctorate in 1898 on "Volksrätsel" ('the traditional riddle') and completed his habilitation in 1900 on "Formelhafte Schlüsse im Volksmärchen" ('formulaic endings in folk-tales'). He belonged to the pioneering Berlin school of Germanic studies associated with Wilhelm Scherer. In 1914 he held a lectureship in Liverpool. Then he was appointed full professor at the Königliche Akademie zu Posen — German Academy in Poznán. When Germany lost Poznán through the Treaty of Versailles, Petsch lost his job. In October 1919, Petsch became a professor at the University of Hamburg, taking up the first chair of modern German literary history, and he taught beyond retirement age until 1945. He was a founding figure there in ''A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Semiotics
Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs. Signs often are communicated by verbal language, but also by gestures, or by other forms of language, e.g. artistic ones (music, painting, sculpture, etc.). Contemporary semiotics is a branch of science that generally studies meaning-making (whether communicated or not) and various types of knowledge. Unlike linguistics, semiotics also studies non-linguistic sign systems. Semiotics includes the study of indication, designation, likeness, analogy, allegory, metonymy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is frequently seen as having important anthropological and sociological dimensions. Some semioticians regard every cultural phenomenon as being able to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |