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l'appel du vide
Quote from I:
Perhaps "river" doesn't refer to water...


Well atleast I was heading (sorta) in the right direction.  I like it.
red chamber dream
Quote from 13M13:
Quote from I:
Perhaps "river" doesn't refer to water...


Well atleast I was heading (sorta) in the right direction.  I like it.

Yeah, and that's another reason I like it the way it is. People can almost get there, which is precisely what I want. I don't want people to get it (or be completely off), but I want them to be close.
I got it after seeing "power cord", though that's perhaps not saying much.  I'd been thinking of "behind the bed" already but didn't pursue.  I'm not really following line 4, though.
red chamber dream
Quote from Chanoire:
I'm not really following line 4, though.

It's merely stating that outlets will stay put until the house is torn down/rebuilt/etc. They're a fairly permanent structure.
Not too much to read into in that line.
ohhhhhhhhhhhh!!

I got the double meaning of the first two lines, I just couldn't think of anything that would fit the rest of the clues.

That is a good riddle.  Good riddles are always tricky to get, and make you feel like a complete idiot when you are told the answer.
HA! I knew it! If only I had seen this earlier !
red chamber dream
Does anyone think it would be better if I changed "comfort" to "nourishment" in the second stanza? I'm trying to make it sound like a very tired traveler is just arriving at a bar, asking for something to drink/eat.

Passersby may use me as
They wish, so long as I am available.
Like nourishment to weary travelers, I
So sustain those in need if they are
Willing to pay my tab. Constantly
Shifting, I do what is asked of me.
l'appel du vide
Keep "comfort".  Electrical outlets make life more comfortable.  And why did you capitalize the first letter of every stanza?
Poetic license ftw.

Nice riddle Ark. :)  I couldn't even think of anything, but then again I didn't exactly try...
red chamber dream
Quote from 13M13:
And why did you capitalize the first letter of every stanza?

It's a poem, written in older English style.
l'appel du vide
Haha, yes, I do know it's a poem.  I just wasn't aware that such grammar was required.  I find it rather...odd.  But, alas...poetry, I know not.  ;)
red chamber dream
Quote from 13M13:
Haha, yes, I do know it's a poem.  I just wasn't aware that such grammar was required.

It wasn't required. I just wanted to style it as a poem, because I like poetry.
l'appel du vide
Quote from Arkarian:
It wasn't required. I just wanted to style it as a poem, because I like poetry.


Heh, no, no.  I didn't know there was a style of poetry that, in common practice, it seems, capitalized every first letter of a stanza.  But I digress (way to much).  Carry on. ;)
red chamber dream
Quote from 13M13:
Heh, no, no.  I didn't know there was a style of poetry that, in common practice, it seems, capitalized every first letter of a stanza.  But I digress (way to much).  Carry on. ;)

Wha...what? Mostly all poetry capitalises the first letter of every line. And I think you have the terms "stanza" and "line" confused. A stanza is sort of the equivalent to a paragraph in prose. I'm capitalising the first letter of every line, a term which should be self-explanatory (though, in turn, the first letter of every stanza is capitalised, too >.<).
l'appel du vide
Indeed, you are correct.  Not sure how I let that one slip my mind.
lvl 28 Magic Leper
Hmmm.... I can't see how an electrical outlet is constantly shifting. A few of the other verses seem a bit circumstantial as well.

I think the main problem here is that a "river" can refer to many things, even pain as someone had posted earlier. Plus as I said earlier some of the lines aren't really characteristics of an electrical outlet, more something that could happen in a situation. For example, assuming that the first line means that the electrical outlet is behind something, an electrical outlet doesn't have to be behind anything.... at least not where I live.

But overall I think it was good, I would have never guessed it given a thousand years. I think you tried to make it just a bit too tricky, which a riddle doesn't necessarilly have to be.
I assume the constantly shifting refers to alternating current.

The river presumably refers to current as well.  Maybe you can hookshot over it.

And it's impossible to cover every possible location.  It's common enough here for outlets to end up behind beds because the logical place to put them is in parts of walls which are accessible, and the logical place to put a bed happens to be against a wall.  Obviously "bed" is necessary for the misdirection of "river"; "the place behind the sofa that the river runs through" wouldn't really work.
I'll be back. Maybe...
there are some excellent riddles in the hobbitses...
Quote from Skreemaster:
there are some excellent riddles in the hobbitses...
Or in the beginning of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass...
red chamber dream
Chanoire nailed it.

Quote from Vertigo:
Hmmm.... I can't see how an electrical outlet is constantly shifting. A few of the other verses seem a bit circumstantial as well.

I think the main problem here is that a "river" can refer to many things, even pain as someone had posted earlier.

That was the whole point of putting that reference in. Yeah, it refers to a "river of current".

Quote from Vertigo:
For example, assuming that the first line means that the electrical outlet is behind something, an electrical outlet doesn't have to be behind anything.... at least not where I live.

Of course it doesn't. This riddle is referring to a specific electrical outlet. It talks about "its friends that get the day shift", such as ones that power lamps, televisions, etc., while this particular outlet powers an alarm clock - all day and all night - and naturally it plugs in behind the bed.

Quote from Vertigo:
I think you tried to make it just a bit too tricky, which a riddle doesn't necessarilly have to be.

It doesn't? imo it's not a good riddle if it's not tricky.
lvl 28 Magic Leper
Ah, I forgot that it mentioned bed in it, well that clears a lot of things up.  And no a riddle doesn't have to be mindnumbingly hard to be a good riddle, as long as is gives you that feeling of "Damn, I had a feeling it was that." or that feeling of the clever use of words in the riddle. Which this riddle never gave me until Chanoire pointed out the use of the word "bed".

But anyways that is all personal preference and doesn't apply to anyone besides me.

Still, I don't think I would have ever guessed it in the direction I was going.
red chamber dream
Quote from Vertigo:
And no a riddle doesn't have to be mindnumbingly hard to be a good riddle, as long as is gives you that feeling of "Damn, I had a feeling it was that."

Nah, you shouldn't be saying that at all. That's the mark of a riddle that's too easy. A good riddle is one that few people can solve, and when one hears the answer, they'd get the feeling of "why didn't I see that??".

Quote from Vertigo:
Still, I don't think I would have ever guessed it in the direction I was going.

That's the point. I worded it to purposely mislead people. The double meaning of "bed" is the whole key to the riddle. Without that, I wouldn't really expect someone to solve it.
soaking through
I disagree.  An unsolvable riddle is a crap riddle, and a very obscure one will just leave the reader frustrated as they move further away from the answer.  It should be possible to move closer to the answer over time.  FWIW, finding out the answer to yours didn't really make me go "oh, right", and kick myself.  IMO some of the clues weren't connected to the answer enough.
"Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

People actually sent Lewis Carroll answers to that, which is funny because he didn't have one in mind; he was just picking something to sound obscure.