Who is buried in Grant's tomb

Who is buried in Grant's tomb

  • True

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • False

    Votes: 3 25.0%

  • All of the above

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • None of the above

    Votes: 5 41.7%
  • Total voters
    12
OK, now back to that question that stumps third-graders across the land. The "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" joke stems from a 1950s game show; it was supposed to be an easy question, but the contestants thought it was a trap and got it wrong. So for the last time, who is buried there? Well, no one actually. Mr. and Mrs. Grant are not buried. Their sarcophagi lie above ground.

Groucho Marx' YOU BET YOUR LIFE!
 
Before I spill the beans and tell the story of this little, uh, exercise, let me offer you this. It is not as in-jest as it may seem, and there is one very correct answer, with the rest of them being totally incorrect.

Any more care to try? :)
 
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If an Airplane crashes on the Border of the US and Canada, Where do they bury the Survivors?

Heard it in the 4th grade, and it still stumps 4th graders.

And Who is still on the Air, and just keeps regenerating. He'll probably be buried in a Police Call Box.
 
If an Ox stands on the border between Austria and Germany with his head to Austria and backside to Germany, who'll get the milk?
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Heard it in the 4th grade, and it still stumps 4th graders.
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And ... the WIBIGT one stumped a good number of very bright sophomore-level college students. :)

Yes, the "question" originated with a very old Groucho Marx routine, but ...

To make a long story long. ... Back many years ago when I was a grad student, I taught a session of a course in "Logic, Sets and Functions", a math course, which was also crosslisted as a philosophy course.

One of the other instructors of that course used to use the question above, worded exactly as it is above, as a bonus "question" on the final exam -- until word got out about it. :) I used it as a classroom example.

The "question" above is not a question at all. Notice the (intentional) lack of a question mark. It is a statement which, depending on the angle of semantics, :) is known as a proposition or assertion, and evaluates to TRUE or FALSE.

Who (the same "Who" who may or may not be on first) :) is obviously not buried (or entombed) in Grant's Tomb. The proposition therefore evaluates to FALSE. A. (TRUE) is incorrect, C and D are absurd.

(Now just watch, somebody is gonna try to argue that it's vacuously true.) :)
 
No, I won't try to argue that, my understanding of the english language is pretty good but far from good enough to find a solution like that.
 
Socke said:
If an Ox stands on the border between Austria and Germany with his head to Austria and backside to Germany, who'll get the milk?
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Bonus question: Who gets to shovel the manure?

Hey, this part of RFF doesn't allow image tags. No smileys from Deutschland. :(
Volker, you used some smileys from THIS site several weeks ago. They are excellent. Danke!


R.J.
 
dmr said:
And ... the WIBIGT one stumped a good number of very bright sophomore-level college students. :)

Yes, the "question" originated with a very old Groucho Marx routine, but ...

To make a long story long. ... Back many years ago when I was a grad student, I taught a session of a course in "Logic, Sets and Functions", a math course, which was also crosslisted as a philosophy course.

One of the other instructors of that course used to use the question above, worded exactly as it is above, as a bonus "question" on the final exam -- until word got out about it. :) I used it as a classroom example.

The "question" above is not a question at all. Notice the (intentional) lack of a question mark. It is a statement which, depending on the angle of semantics, :) is known as a proposition or assertion, and evaluates to TRUE or FALSE.

Who (the same "Who" who may or may not be on first) :) is obviously not buried (or entombed) in Grant's Tomb. The proposition therefore evaluates to FALSE. A. (TRUE) is incorrect, C and D are absurd.
(Now just watch, somebody is gonna try to argue that it's vacuously true.) :)
Click to expand...

Annie, I think Dan is correcto if you assume that the lack of a question mark is a typo.
A riddle relating to Grant's Tomb, popularized by Groucho Marx on his game show You Bet Your Life, is "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" Though the proper answer is "nobody"—Grant and his wife are entombed, not buried—Groucho would usually accept "Grant".
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SOURCE

R.J.
 
BTW, Grant had a farm about 30 miles (48km) from me. Anheuser-Busch operates a park there with free beer. It used to be all-you-can-drink. Now, I think they have a 2 drink maximum. http://www.grantsfarm.com/


R.J.
 
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RJBender said:
BTW, Grant had a farm about 30 miles (48km) from me. Anheuser-Busch operates a park there with free beer. It used to be all-you-can-drink. Now, I think they have a 2 drink maximum. http://www.grantsfarm.com/


R.J.
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I was there when my ship took part in STANAVFORLANT. The amusementpark was nice, then they showed us arround the brewery to see how they make a beerlike beverage close to but totaly different from beer. They used the best corn and rice, matured over hickory wood etc.pp. and when they asked the german soldiers from the ship with the Becks crest what they wanted to drink, nobody ordered what they call beer there :)

They may still be under the impression that german naval soldiers don't drink alcohol.
 
My favorite "stumper" is from "Parade".

You are on Let's Make a Deal.

1) You are asked to pick door number 1, door number 2, or door number 3.

2) You choose door number 2.

3) Mony opens up door number 1 to show you the cow that was found wandering the border between Austria and Germany after having too many fermented hops.

4) Monty asks you if you want to change your mind and pick another door.

Should you switch? and if so, why?
 
Brian Sweeney said:
My favorite "stumper" is from "Parade".

You are on Let's Make a Deal.

1) You are asked to pick door number 1, door number 2, or door number 3.

2) You choose door number 2.

3) Mony opens up door number 1 to show you the cow that was found wandering the border between Austria and Germany after having too many fermented hops.

4) Monty asks you if you want to change your mind and pick another door.

Should you switch? and if so, why?
Click to expand...

I forget the formal proof of this (there is one), but IIRC, you should switch.
 
I was going to say "Mrs. Grant." That was Groucho's favorite answer.

Memories of "Let's Make a Deal" make me pine for the good old days of enlightened culture when real men like Monty Hall wore plaid suits, and instead of terrorist fanatics all we had to worry about was thermonuclear warfare and the ubiquitousness of nicotine.
 
Socke said:
I was there when my ship took part in STANAVFORLANT. The amusementpark was nice, then they showed us arround the brewery to see how they make a beerlike beverage close to but totaly different from beer. They used the best corn and rice, matured over hickory wood etc.pp. and when they asked the german soldiers from the ship with the Becks crest what they wanted to drink, nobody ordered what they call beer there :)

They may still be under the impression that german naval soldiers don't drink alcohol.
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LOL. Good story, Volker. Budweiser was the "KING of beers" at one time. They can't say that anymore because they are presently # 3 worldwide. Sexy girls in bikinis and "talking" frogs are used to promote this ice cold beverage on American television. The German Purity Law of 1516 means nothing to these people.

I live 20 miles from that brewery in St. Louis and I buy my Warsteiner at the supermarket down the street. :p

R.J.
 
Socke said:
I was there when my ship took part in STANAVFORLANT. The amusementpark was nice, then they showed us arround the brewery to see how they make a beerlike beverage close to but totaly different from beer. They used the best corn and rice, matured over hickory wood etc.pp. and when they asked the german soldiers from the ship with the Becks crest what they wanted to drink, nobody ordered what they call beer there :)

They may still be under the impression that german naval soldiers don't drink alcohol.
Click to expand...


I think they know something is up now. Check out this website:
http://www.budout.org/

R.J.
 
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