...The Answer!...
I know I said I'd wait until Wednesday, but I don't think anyone else is going to post an answer. And so, I'll be a total dick to you all and give you the answer today. (God, I'm such an asshole, aren't I? How could I be such a terrible person? ) :P
Everyone did really good - I'm proud of all my Quillmaniacs.
[P.S. If you don't know what this is all about, click on the title of this entry for the low-down.]
"I have a start; I have an end.
You can't see what's around my bend;
Yet I travel straight, just like a wire;
My pace is steady, I never tire...
But, sometimes, I come full 'round.
I weave countless tales, yet utter no sound.
What am I?"
ANSWER: Human history.
Since I got a COMPLAIN!!t ( \m/ ) about the "validity" of my riddle last time, I thought an explanation was in order this time around:
"I have a start; I have an end." - Human history most certainly has a beginning; and it has and will have a definite end, both on a moment to moment basis and at the end of our "run", if you will.
"You can't see what's around my bend;" - Simply put, you can never see what the future holds.
"Yet I travel straight, just like a wire;" - There's a reason why it's called a time-LINE as opposed to a time-CIRCLE or time-RHOMBUS or something.
"My pace is steady, I never tire..." - History [and time, which is intertwined with, but not anchored to, history] is always moving at a constant pace.
"But, sometimes, I come full 'round." - Human history has a tendency to repeat itself, or at least human situations within history do; war, times of trial for societies, the fall of various societies, etc.
"I weave countless tales, yet utter no sound." - This last line is the key that keeps the answer from being a simple matter of 'time' - it is not the time itself that weaves the stories to be told, for time has existed well before the concept of history, and for that matter is incapable of weaving ANY tales on it's own. While time is certainly integral TO history for it to exist as even a concept, it is HISTORY, and for us, HUMAN history, that ultimately carries the burden of tales to be told. And, of course, history itself does not actually give VOICE to said tales, be it verbal or written.
Love, (Beaver), time/life (Anonymous), a clock (Hizzy), and a book (Nix) are all good guesses, though.
As I said, time in and of itself doesn't meet the last line of criteria - it doesn't tell tales in of itself; nor does it come full circle (there was and will be only ONE October 5th, 1765, 8:52 AM for example), despite a clock's nature to TRACK time by means of rotation around it's face; so time or a clock are automatically rendered incorrect here.
Life has a beginning and an end, absolutely; life sometimes comes full circle; and life definitely weaves tales; but life can either be regarded from a standpoint of the life experience or in chronological terms. Chronologically is out due to the above. That would only leave life in regards to experience, which is anything but a straight path; life experience is riddled with twists and curves. The answer of life DOES meet the criteria of coming full circle, but more in terms of PATH, which negates the straight travel line compeletely.
Love has no tales to tell on its own, and definitely doesn't travel at a steady pace, as love swells and subsides to greater and lesser degrees over the course of time.
A book definitely doesn't utter sounds, and it tells tales; it has a beginning and an end; and, it does travel in a straight course; but it doesn't meet the requirements of pace and surprise. You don't read a book at a constant, unwavering rate - you stop to go to the bathroom, you think about what you've read, etc. - and even if some people do, it's not an absolute truth. Also, you CAN and sometimes DO flip a few words or pages ahead in some books, a literal way of "seeing what's around the bend".
And yes, once again, this riddle was created by yours truly. :)
Thanks for playing, everyone who answered. Rest assured there will be more soon...
Quilled Tunes: "More Human Than Human" - White Zombie
posted by The Almighty KING OF QUILL at 8/29/2005 07:48:00 AM
3 Comments:
...and there's already been a discrepancy cited about an aspect of my riddle.
Hello! - I'm the creator of the above riddle, therefore I'M the one who also created the answer. You can't GET more black and white than that.
It's rather idiotic to tell someone how the answer to the riddle which they created is flawed.
The discrepancy was this: "History doesn't weave the tales, the events of history do." True, but only abstractly and very indirectly - history is the practice of recounting events, and history is a subjective matter from culture to culture, so you will always get different recountings from an actual event, be they accurate or exaggerated. Therefore, it is NOT the events that "weave" the tales, but the process and concept of history that "weave" them. Case in point, the history of the Civil War differs in the North than it does in the South, at least from the standpoint of ideologies, whys, and hows; therefore, the actual EVENT did NOT weave the tales, the process of history did.
Well, once again, you've proven yourself a dick.
"Waaahhhh!!! I didn't get it right!"
Nix says: Pure genius!
Hmm...I did come off kinda pissy in that comment.
I apologize for sounding so "dickish" about it all. I didn't intend for it to sound exactly that stand-offish; only slightly.
P.S. But then again, what did you all expect? Rumor has it that I'm a completely despicable human being...
P.S.S. I'm such an unbelievable dick that I had the courtesy to make an apology. How could I be so mean?
;) :D :P
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