Our eldest child, a grade-schooler, loves asking and solving riddles. One day, he brought home a riddle he learned from his friends and posed it to me. “Mom, what’s the smartest bird in the world? The answer is Har-bird.” I found it very amusing because it came from my son.
To encourage my son’s interest in riddles, I bought him a book of riddles. As he read the book, he started asking his dad riddles. Some of the questions seemed quite challenging to me, but my husband got them right almost immediately.
While answering our son’s riddles, my husband sometimes asked riddles of his own, emphasizing the point that he had made them up on the spot. Hearing them, I realized that there’s a fine line between riddles and dad jokes. That would explain why he has a knack for solving riddles.
pose it to - to put forward a question or problem for consideration
fine line between - a very small difference or distinction between things
on the spot - without any delay; immediately
have a knack for - a special skill, talent, or aptitude
초등학생인 큰 아이는 수수께끼를 내거나 푸는 것을 무척 좋아한다. 하루는 친구들에게서 배운 수수께끼를 집에서 내게 물었다. ‘엄마, 세상에서 가장 똑똑한 새는? 정답은 하버드’ 나는 아들의 질문이라 매우 재미있었다.
수수께끼에 완전히 빠진 아들을 위해 수수께끼 책을 사줬다. 아들은 책을 읽으면서 아빠에게 수수께끼를 내기 시작했다. 몇 가지 질문은 내게 꽤 어려웠지만 남편은 문제를 듣자마자 즉시 답을 맞혔다.
아들의 수수께끼에 답하는 동안 남편은 가끔 자신이 만든 것임을 강조하면서 즉석에서 수수께끼를 내기도 했다. 남편의 문제를 들으니 수수께끼와 아재 개그는 한 끗 차이라는 것을 알았다. 남편이 수수께끼에 강했던 것은 다 그런 이유였나 보다.
- I laughed a lot, but my wife didn’t find it very amusing. / I find it very amusing that you would say that.
- I actually enjoy my boss’s dad jokes. / I also tell a lot of dad jokes as I get older.
- My husband has a knack for cooking. / You have to have a knack for it.
A: My son is really into riddles these days.
B: Really? He must be at that age.
A: He’s so crazy about them that I even bought him a book of riddles.
B: A whole book?
A: Yes, and now he’s constantly asking me riddles whenever he gets the chance.
B: That’s great! He can practice his thinking skills that way.