Have you been stumped by a riddle about a woman’s name that is making its rounds on social media?
The riddle has been around for a while, but it keeps baffling new audiences, so it continues to pop up now and again. Basically, it’s a deceptively simple brain teaser that goes like this: “There is a woman in a boat, on a lake, wearing a coat. If you want to know her name, it’s in the riddle I just wrote. What’s her name?”
The riddle is currently causing confusion among Reader’s Digest followers on Facebook. Here’s the post:
Think about it for a few minutes and re-read the riddle. Can you guess what the woman’s name might be?
Read on with caution, as there will be spoilers ahead for the answer to the riddle.
So who is this mysterious woman on the boat? Her name is…There!
Get it? The riddle tells you right at the start. “There is a woman on a boat.”
No, it might not be a common name (or a name at all, really) but replace it with any other name, such as “Sally is a woman on a boat” and you can easily see how this sentence makes sense!
Did you get the right answer? Other fun guesses have included “Theresa,” “Ona Lake,” or “Ina Boat.”
MORE: Can you help the bear find his bowtie in this tricky puzzle?
Riddles are good for your brain, especially as we age. Research shows that puzzles and brain-teasers can help to delay the onset of dementia, as well as help improve memory and mood. But they are also good for kids too: Brain teasers can help to exercise areas in the brain related to visual, verbal and spatial reasoning, and they are simply a fun way to pass the time.
If you like visual puzzles, try some from Gergely Dudás, like this festive-looking fall one he posted recently:
Happy puzzling!
MORE: Can you find the goldfish hidden among the clownfish in this puzzle?
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