How many sides does a stop sign have?

August 26, 2006

It’s a trick question. No matter how you answer, you can be wrong.

I heard my son the other morning try it on my loving wife. From the bathroom I roared/slurred “Two!: Front and back!”

“No…” he trailed off. He asked my admirable wife again. She said “Do you mean how many sides does an octagon have?”

“No…” he said. He wanted to follow the script. “I mean How many sides does a stop sign have?” he said, randomly placing a stress to make it sound like it mattered.

I recall my own parents being frustrating in that way. You would ask them a trick question and they would say something back that indicated that they had picked up on the weak reasoning or phrasing that they were supposed to fall into.

Posted in Brainhell, Children