Forums » The Lounge » Read Thread

I've nearly finished reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I have begun thinking about the answer to his famous riddle, asked by the mad hatter, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" which of course the author answered himself in the back of the book, but I was curious to know what creative answers the community of CYS would and could come up with. What's your answer?

There's a "B" in both and an "N" in neither.

Ah, clever. I see what you did there. Kind of plays with the fact that it was an absurd question by answering it with an absurd response.

They're splatched in ink.

They're used symbolically in artsy neo-noir films.

They both make cracking noises and bend funny if you give them a good, firm karate chop.

They're a staple of badly edgy anime.

They have both sat on Liam Neeson's mighty shoulders as he dramatically narrated something.

There's a clever podcast between a raven and a writing desk on soundcloud. It can get a little stale at times because the writing desk doesn't have much to say, but they have the same sense of humor.

They both require you to clean the house a lot, because they shit on everything, especially shag carpet.

You can eat a cinnamon roll off of both of them.

Well those are all...oddly clever with a touch of your humor. I'm sure the real answer has got to be one of these

Steve's answer is great.

Mine's not as clever, but in some cultures the raven is considered a messenger, and can be a sign of good or bad things to come. At a writing desk, countless messages of good and bad have been written. Coincidentally, I'm typing this from a laptop on a writing desk. With that said:

A raven is like a writing desk; they both can send messages of fortune and despair.

That is an excellent answer, and would probably be the best answer you could think of realistically, just too realistic for a mad riddle.

Who says a mad riddle is nonsense? Perhaps they think on an entirely different level, and we merely comprehend it as much.

That being said, now I'm wondering what the answer was in the back of the book.

READ IT YOURSELF, YA QUACK!

I never read the last page of a book before I've read the rest of it!

"Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar out with the wrong end in front!" (Nevar purposely misspelled because it makes Raven backwards, but the 'wrong end was put in front')

Why didn't you just search it up it like I did? Are we actually at the point where people are UNWILLING to do that?!

Well, I guess that is the reason why we have google.

The better question is, why would the Mad Hatter ask such a question?

For this exact reason of course. Wanted us to sit here thinking of the best way we can answer it.

Poe wrote on both.

The riddle wasnt written with an answer in mind, but similar to this, people made up answers that fit.

So it's a reverse-42?

I don't even think it's worth answering since the author was most likely high on something while writing it.

Well, you've just tried to put down a literary classic. Alright then.

Sonic's edgy like that.

Lewis Carroll didn't do opiates or laudanum (the big recreational drugs of his time) and most of the other 'drug references' were projected onto that book in the '60s when that was kind of the thing to do.

He did take lots of photographs of half naked little girls though, so make of that what you will. 

The more you know

The entire book is kind of known for being rather loony.

Wow, never thought there was an actual answer to this question, as I have never actually read the tangible book. I have enjoyed it by listening to an audio book of it.

i just assumed it was one of those things we would have to ponder until the end of time. Too bad.

Yeah, I'm guessing that a certain meaning to it was that we don't need to spend time trying to answer unsolvable riddles.

(Says the one who made the post to ask in the first place)