Last night in class we discussed restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, and I was reminded of a riddle that I believe is attributable to Lewis Carroll, one of the great masters of wordplay and a hardcore riddler.

Why is a cat like a complex sentence?

Answer: A cat has claws at the end of its paws, while a complex sentence has a pause at the end of its clause.

That’s a little grammatical humor there. Dry as toast and just as funny. But then they’re not really meant to be funny. Figuring out riddles is like training your mind to think around corners. The answer is not necessarily right in front of your face; but it’s close enough that you feel foolish if you can’t figure it out.

Speaking of Carroll and riddles, a debate has been going on for years about the riddle posed by Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The riddle, Why is a raven like a writing desk? is never answered in the book (after posing the riddle, the Hatter responds that he doesn’t know the answer), and most people have assumed that, like the Hatter, Carroll simply never had an answer for the riddle – that it was really more of a joke. Which of course makes sense since Alice goes on to bemoan riddles to which the asker doesn’t know the answer. I found a website that sheds some light on the story, along with Carroll’s answer to the riddle, which appeared in a 1896 reprint of the novel.

Deep thoughts, I know.

Ian