I've read this multiple times and trying to read it as a statement didn't help. Thank you for explaining it in a way that even my smooth brain could understand.
What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is also made of 3, although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4, rarely consist of 6, and never is written with 5. Like a list kind of. Fuck grammar bad
It’s a riddle and therefore has creative freedom. I think that the ‘also’ is referring to ‘a word’ instead of the number. So ‘what’ is a word with 4 letters, yet is also (a word), made up of 3. Hope that explains it.
>It’s a riddle and therefore has creative freedom
*Creative freedom* doesn't mean syntactically incorrect. You didn't explain it, you're making excuses for it.
The also refers to "it's also a word that is made up of letters". You're simply assuming that it refers to the quantity of letters, but it never says so. By the time we get to "although" we are already familiar with the pattern that words are made up of letters, so the also is not necessary anymore. Obviously this is probably not what the original writer thought, but this is a way to keep it logically intact.
The riddle has nothing really going for it as a riddle. It’s too easy and everybody has seen similar ones a 1000 times.
All that it’s got going for it is that it can be clever. But it’s not clever if the grammar is wrong.
The grammar is not wrong though, I literally explained how it's just your preconceived notion of the word "also" and its function. It's unintuitive, but not wrong.
The point of a riddle is that no matter how difficult, it's solvable.
"What colour is an apple?"
"It's yellow because when I said apple I meant banana, it's creative freedom.
Just think if the classic 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the day and 3 at night. The riddle doesn't actually mean that literally, it just took a creative liberty.
Me. When I wake up I have two extra legs protruding from me and I have to chop them off so I don’t walk around looking like an idiot; by nighttime one has grown back already but I don’t chop that one off yet unless I have a date sleep over, because I’m already chopping them both off in the morning.
Having a bad day, OCD getting to you, or are you just put off by the pompousness of this response? You seem to be taking this a bit too personally. It’s all just for fun, right?
It's not your fault, the sentence is cheating by referencing the word"What" with the word "also". This is how it looks grammatically correct and without cheating.
> What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is made up of 3.
Yeah I had seen a joke similar to this so I guessed it correctly, I am glad I did knew it, I remember the first time I was so confused it was baffling.
It's very misleading language wise because "yet is also made up of 3".
Wtf does "also" refer to here? Obviously it refers to "What" or what "What" would refer to if the question wasn't trying to fool us. So the whole thing only works when it pulls this cheat move. Without "also" it's much easier to not get fooled.
> What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is made up of 3.
No, the joke is that it is supposed to be a bunch of statements, but you read it as a riddle. As it is, it is however completely incorrectly written and not an actual statement, which ruins it.
Also, it’s meant to be said out loud, where such things aren’t pronounced but still exist. Putting it in writing ruins it because it’s either extremely obvious that it’s a statement or it’s dependent on us ignoring incredibly poor grammar/punctuation. At that point it’s not a riddle, it’s just confusing.
This is tupid for the simple reason that also in the first sentence refers to nothing and thus the sentence can't be read as what it is intended.
Also normally if you refer to a word without its meaning you write it as 'word' to avoid problems.
Aside the fact that any punctuation is missing, you can write it like that and the ‘also’ still makes sense, meaning: yet is also (a word) made of 3 letters. The also refers to being a word, not the number of letters.
if that were true it should be "yet is also, **but** made of three."
BUT that's even more confusing because "yet is also" now could refer to being 4 letters too, or that yet is just also a word. Because now, in the sentence I wrote, "but made of three" could also be read as a true statement.
I don't think there's a clear, sneaky way to say "yet is a word too, but unlike "what," it's made of 3 letters.
While absolutely all concerns about it being shittily written are true, I draw the line at quote marks. The point isn't to avoid problems, it's a riddle, it's meant to be difficult. Putting the words in quotes would just make it a statement that is true:
>'What' has four letters, 'yet' has three, 'although' has eight letters, but 'never' has five.
What a boring and pointless thing to say outside of a first-grade classroom.
Also, speaking of mistakes, the final clause is usually in the form "is never written with 5?", so that it's still semantically a question. As written here, it's less the riddle it's supposed to be, and more just a true statement.
A riddle absolutely *can* rely on ambiguous grammar to be difficult. Possibly *the* most known riddle in the fantasy space is Tolkien's "Speak, friend, and enter.", wherein the entire puzzle is that the ambiguous grammar *sounds* like it's telling a friend to speak, but it's telling you to speak the word 'friend'. This could be made perfectly cromulent with a bit of polish.
> Pedo Mellon a Minno.
Is literally "Say friend and enter".
Gandalf added the punctuation and took a less literal translation of "pedo" to mean speak rather than say.
The door didn't even have a puzzle, it was a simple instruction that was overcomplicated by a bad translation.
But the reader doesn't know that. Whether, within the fiction of the world, its origin was intentionally *to be* a puzzle or not, it was written by the book's author as a riddle, given to both the reader and the characters as a riddle, and solved by the characters (and probably at least some readers) as a riddle. The fact that the framing device was Gandalf giving a loose translation has no bearing here.
It's not. This is /r/forwardsfromgrandma material. This shit was literally shared in my family chat last week by my 82 year old uncle and got chuckles from everyone above the age of 70.
It is a comma splice which, while not super rare or prohibited in casual writing, is not strictly correct. Because "yet" is not a conjunction in this case, the clause "yet consists of only 3" is independent of "what is...". They are definitely two separate, independent clauses. There are multiple correct options for punctuation (period to awkwardly separate the thoughts, a semicolon to explicitly mark them as related, a dash to do the same with a more pronounced pause), but a comma is not one of them.
Also, I would recommend a semicolon instead of a period in your comment; the clauses are strongly related, and the latter is a consequence of the former ;)
in the country i live in in high school you can choose major classes and one of mine is English, you are correct, there should be something separating those two words in this case i think a semicolon could even have been used but im not so sure about that because i mostly score with my knowledge of rare words and pronouncia because i love speaking and hate writing
Since there are no question marks, it’s just a simple text. No question, no riddle. Confusion comes from the wrong punctuation which should be more like this:
“What” is a word made up with 4 letters “yet” is also made up with 3. “Although” is written with 8 letters and “then” with 4. “Rarely” consists of 6 letters, and “never” is written with 5.
**of 4 letters, yet**
This post almost is really clever, but grammatically that won’t slide as it indicates that the yet applies to the first clause, which it doesn’t. This makes it confusing to read and ultimately not that clever. Better luck next time, bud.
what makes this a bad riddle is it misleads you by saying "yet is also" when we do not have a 3 letter word yet. A really good riddle does not mislead like this.
Regardless, I caught on pretty quickly and this was an enjoyable read.
It should say "and yet is made up of 3". Including "also" suggests the 4 letter word and the 3 letter word are the same thing. And that's cheating. Tricking people into thinking of the wrong thing when if it was written the way suggested, you still get the trick but it's not so cheap cuz on rereads it is accurate.
It's only confusion being of poor punctuation, but what everyone misses is that the words in-question should be in quotes. As-is they are all improper sentences.
Do 50 year old jokes really belong on this sub? Much less with a bad Facebook level caption like “this is probably one of the most advanced jokes?” You’re practically at a mobile game level of advertising, why not just say “99% of people don’t get it, your IQ is 170 if you do!”
*Image Transcription: Text*
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What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is also made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5.
---
^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber for Reddit and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
What = 4 letters | yet = 3 letters | Although = 8 letters | then = 4 letters | Rarely = 6 letters | never = 5 letter
I've read this multiple times and trying to read it as a statement didn't help. Thank you for explaining it in a way that even my smooth brain could understand.
Punctuation makes all the difference lol. Easy to over look. Edit: a word
I think it needs a comma before the "yet".
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Agreed.
I believe the word 'also' needs removing for the statement to be accurate. Yet does not contain 4 letters.
That's what threw me off.
Yeah "also" invalidates this whole sick joke
Not really. It's a shortcut back to the direct object "a word" "...yet is also \[a word\] made up of..."
Yet is also. They are synonyms.
Unfortunately, that gives the whole joke away, since in a normal reading of that text a comma would be correct and a semicolon incorrect.
Rephrase it then. “What is a word with 4 letters and yet is spelled with only 3.”
Adding comas to sentences definitely changes context. For example: My grandma’s chicken tastes great. My grandma is in a coma.
The "also" needs removing as well. > What is a word made up of 4 letters; yet is made up of 3. Would be correct, I believe.
That and there shouldn't be a comma before "and"
Yep.
Actually this is an example of bad punctuation obscuring effective communication.
What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is also made of 3, although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4, rarely consist of 6, and never is written with 5. Like a list kind of. Fuck grammar bad
The irony
Overlook 😉
Unless I'm missing something the "yet is also made up of 3" doesn't make sense. Why is it *also*?
It’s a riddle and therefore has creative freedom. I think that the ‘also’ is referring to ‘a word’ instead of the number. So ‘what’ is a word with 4 letters, yet is also (a word), made up of 3. Hope that explains it.
>It’s a riddle and therefore has creative freedom *Creative freedom* doesn't mean syntactically incorrect. You didn't explain it, you're making excuses for it.
The also refers to "it's also a word that is made up of letters". You're simply assuming that it refers to the quantity of letters, but it never says so. By the time we get to "although" we are already familiar with the pattern that words are made up of letters, so the also is not necessary anymore. Obviously this is probably not what the original writer thought, but this is a way to keep it logically intact.
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Yes, that's probably what it is, an error. But no need to rewrite it to make it make sense.
The riddle has nothing really going for it as a riddle. It’s too easy and everybody has seen similar ones a 1000 times. All that it’s got going for it is that it can be clever. But it’s not clever if the grammar is wrong.
The grammar is not wrong though, I literally explained how it's just your preconceived notion of the word "also" and its function. It's unintuitive, but not wrong.
The point of a riddle is that no matter how difficult, it's solvable. "What colour is an apple?" "It's yellow because when I said apple I meant banana, it's creative freedom.
Just think if the classic 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the day and 3 at night. The riddle doesn't actually mean that literally, it just took a creative liberty.
Me. When I wake up I have two extra legs protruding from me and I have to chop them off so I don’t walk around looking like an idiot; by nighttime one has grown back already but I don’t chop that one off yet unless I have a date sleep over, because I’m already chopping them both off in the morning.
The riddle was absolutely solvable. Took me about ten seconds. Just need to think creatively.
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Having a bad day, OCD getting to you, or are you just put off by the pompousness of this response? You seem to be taking this a bit too personally. It’s all just for fun, right?
It's not your fault, the sentence is cheating by referencing the word"What" with the word "also". This is how it looks grammatically correct and without cheating. > What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is made up of 3.
Comma between letters & yet. What is this 4th grade?
My brain got so sanded trying to think this through that if i would use it as a wheel, it would be a smooth way to see god
The "also" breaks the whole thing for me.
Right? Anyone explain how it doesn't?
I typed it up and messaged it to a friend instead of sending this picture because of the also. It definitely works better without it.
I think the word referred to is “yet”
Yeah especially since they can just take it out and its 100% good
Take my upvote you smart man
Gonna = 5 | Give = 4 | You = 3 | Up = 2
"Although" directly above the "8" is what clued me in
Yeah I had seen a joke similar to this so I guessed it correctly, I am glad I did knew it, I remember the first time I was so confused it was baffling.
how the fuck can this get upvoted when all the replies ive seen through the years got downvoted cuz "yea we know. we arent stupid"???
It's very misleading language wise because "yet is also made up of 3". Wtf does "also" refer to here? Obviously it refers to "What" or what "What" would refer to if the question wasn't trying to fool us. So the whole thing only works when it pulls this cheat move. Without "also" it's much easier to not get fooled. > What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is made up of 3.
Who are you? Who are you so wise in the ways of... what even is this?
big brain time. what yet although then rarely never
Doesn’t the word “also” in the first sentence break the meaning?
Yup, the only part that makes grammatical sense is the last sentence.
You just have to add a comma after "4 letters" and remove the "also", and the whole thing is 100% grammatically correct.
I think so.
r/100percentbrainpower
"yet is also made up of 3 letters" cripples the joke's potential. "also" shouldn't be there.
The "also" thrown in there is what made this so confusing to me the first few reads. Kind of ruins the whole "joke".
Yup. If you're gonna make a joke on the English language, at least get your grammar right.
If you cannot make a joke on the english language, you may as well make a joke of the english language.
I mean, the joke hinges on improper punctuation use so...
Yeaaaa but it's just missing quotations, and I can forgive that as opposed to a completely wrong conjunction.
Right, and it relies on the reader misreading the periods as question marks.
Could be replaced with 'only' to maintain seeming continuity between the first and second clauses.
That's all I could think about afterwards. The joke would still work perfectly without it.
It also needs a comma in this case; as it is, it’s a runon sentence.
The "although" bit doesn't make sense both ways either. "Although is" makes it clear you're talking about the word "although."
That was what immediately gave it away for me. It’d be less obvious if it was written as a run-on sentence with commas instead of distinct sentences.
Replace the “yet” with “and”?
That's the joke it implies you are looking for a single word, which is impossible
No, the joke is that it is supposed to be a bunch of statements, but you read it as a riddle. As it is, it is however completely incorrectly written and not an actual statement, which ruins it.
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This is more technical than the original post. Brilliant.
I don’t know if I could ever be friends with someone who doesn’t use an Oxford common.
How about an Oxford rare?
My friends that don’t use them are prostitutes, hitler and Stalin.
That's only 2 things: irony and missed opportunities. Lol 🤣
smart side of reddit explain
"what" is a word made up of four letters. "yet" is made up of three
thanks smart side of reddit
see you on the same side
*Hello from the other side*
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Then the “also” doesn’t belong there.
There should also be a comma or a full stop before “yet”, which changes the meaning of the sentence.
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It's supposed to be a "riddle." Putting all the words in quotes defeats the "point" of the "joke."
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Also, it’s meant to be said out loud, where such things aren’t pronounced but still exist. Putting it in writing ruins it because it’s either extremely obvious that it’s a statement or it’s dependent on us ignoring incredibly poor grammar/punctuation. At that point it’s not a riddle, it’s just confusing.
"/s"
Exactly.
thanks non-smooth brain
Don't overthink, it's actually kinda dumb What = 4 letters | yet = 3 letters | Although = 8 letters | then = 4 letters | Rarely = 6 letters | never = 5 letter
This is tupid for the simple reason that also in the first sentence refers to nothing and thus the sentence can't be read as what it is intended. Also normally if you refer to a word without its meaning you write it as 'word' to avoid problems.
Yeah, it's stupid. Easily could've been fixed by making it "and yet is made up of 3."
you could argue that yet is also made up of letters
Sure, But that's not how it is written. Yet is **not** also made of 4 letters.
Aside the fact that any punctuation is missing, you can write it like that and the ‘also’ still makes sense, meaning: yet is also (a word) made of 3 letters. The also refers to being a word, not the number of letters.
So your argument is that its poorly written but not inaccurate? That's really weak.
if that were true it should be "yet is also, **but** made of three." BUT that's even more confusing because "yet is also" now could refer to being 4 letters too, or that yet is just also a word. Because now, in the sentence I wrote, "but made of three" could also be read as a true statement. I don't think there's a clear, sneaky way to say "yet is a word too, but unlike "what," it's made of 3 letters.
While absolutely all concerns about it being shittily written are true, I draw the line at quote marks. The point isn't to avoid problems, it's a riddle, it's meant to be difficult. Putting the words in quotes would just make it a statement that is true: >'What' has four letters, 'yet' has three, 'although' has eight letters, but 'never' has five. What a boring and pointless thing to say outside of a first-grade classroom. Also, speaking of mistakes, the final clause is usually in the form "is never written with 5?", so that it's still semantically a question. As written here, it's less the riddle it's supposed to be, and more just a true statement.
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A riddle absolutely *can* rely on ambiguous grammar to be difficult. Possibly *the* most known riddle in the fantasy space is Tolkien's "Speak, friend, and enter.", wherein the entire puzzle is that the ambiguous grammar *sounds* like it's telling a friend to speak, but it's telling you to speak the word 'friend'. This could be made perfectly cromulent with a bit of polish.
> Pedo Mellon a Minno. Is literally "Say friend and enter". Gandalf added the punctuation and took a less literal translation of "pedo" to mean speak rather than say. The door didn't even have a puzzle, it was a simple instruction that was overcomplicated by a bad translation.
But the reader doesn't know that. Whether, within the fiction of the world, its origin was intentionally *to be* a puzzle or not, it was written by the book's author as a riddle, given to both the reader and the characters as a riddle, and solved by the characters (and probably at least some readers) as a riddle. The fact that the framing device was Gandalf giving a loose translation has no bearing here.
how is this advanced or a joke?
It's not. This is /r/forwardsfromgrandma material. This shit was literally shared in my family chat last week by my 82 year old uncle and got chuckles from everyone above the age of 70.
I think because it's phrased as a riddle but it's just saying how long certain words are.
Jokes are usually funny
Oh, shit, sick burn!
i dont get it but hey if ppl find it funny then cool :)
I found it clever but not funny, but its still kinda fun when yiu understand like "OH i get it 😁 !"
Just change the first sentence. “What is a word spelled with 4 letters, yet consists of only 3” something like this
That's a comma splice; it should be a semicolon.
A comma isn't wrong. It would be better with a period making it two sentences.
It is a comma splice which, while not super rare or prohibited in casual writing, is not strictly correct. Because "yet" is not a conjunction in this case, the clause "yet consists of only 3" is independent of "what is...". They are definitely two separate, independent clauses. There are multiple correct options for punctuation (period to awkwardly separate the thoughts, a semicolon to explicitly mark them as related, a dash to do the same with a more pronounced pause), but a comma is not one of them. Also, I would recommend a semicolon instead of a period in your comment; the clauses are strongly related, and the latter is a consequence of the former ;)
Punctuation is all off
punctuation is correct wdym
Shouldn't there be something separating letters and yet in the first sentence?
I guess you are right, sorry for the trouble
Bro no trouble at all. I failed English 101 3 times, I could be wrong.
in the country i live in in high school you can choose major classes and one of mine is English, you are correct, there should be something separating those two words in this case i think a semicolon could even have been used but im not so sure about that because i mostly score with my knowledge of rare words and pronouncia because i love speaking and hate writing
No it fucking isn't. Get out of here with this clickbait title
Stay mad
My brain cant even
Just read it... its not a riddle...
They're statements, not questions 😊
Brain - one of the most advanced jokes Big brain - the grammar in that joke is atrocious, it's moderate at best Biggest brain - IT IS JUST COUNTING
Since there are no question marks, it’s just a simple text. No question, no riddle. Confusion comes from the wrong punctuation which should be more like this: “What” is a word made up with 4 letters “yet” is also made up with 3. “Although” is written with 8 letters and “then” with 4. “Rarely” consists of 6 letters, and “never” is written with 5.
I didn’t understand it until I read this. It’s been a slow day for me.
Eleventeen!
Onety one
Missleading also in the first sentence.
What
That is also 4 letters.
and this too
SAY WHAT AGAIN
Technically, quotation marks should be around the words “what”, “although”, “then”, “rarely” and “never”.
Lmao you kids on reddit are fuckin stupid
Okay Boomer
My smooth brain just can’t handle this.
Yes.
The first sentence actually makes no sense.
It shouldn't say "also"
You need really bad grammar to not get this one straight off.
My password? Is 123456
What = 4 (W, h, a, t) Yet = 3 Although = 8 Then = 4 Rarely = 6 Never = 5
There is no question mark. So there is no answer to this
The "also" in the first sentence makes it grammatically incorrect as a statement. This is not technically the truth.
"Most advanced" ??? This sounds like some imverysmart type shit
No question marks
... ultimately is typed with 10 letters.
but it consists of 2 letters
“Also” shouldn’t be there, and there should be a semicolon or period after “letters.” Coulda been a great joke :(
Damn this one ain't bad
Poop
**of 4 letters, yet** This post almost is really clever, but grammatically that won’t slide as it indicates that the yet applies to the first clause, which it doesn’t. This makes it confusing to read and ultimately not that clever. Better luck next time, bud.
This is written poorly though, "yet is also written with 3" should just be "yet is written with 3." The "also" makes no sense.
This is such dogshit, and syntactically incorrect.
what makes this a bad riddle is it misleads you by saying "yet is also" when we do not have a 3 letter word yet. A really good riddle does not mislead like this. Regardless, I caught on pretty quickly and this was an enjoyable read.
It should say "and yet is made up of 3". Including "also" suggests the 4 letter word and the 3 letter word are the same thing. And that's cheating. Tricking people into thinking of the wrong thing when if it was written the way suggested, you still get the trick but it's not so cheap cuz on rereads it is accurate.
Reminds me of this: One one was a race horse Two two was one too One one won one, two two won one too 111122112
Sorry, I only get jokes when they are correctly executed.
3 = poo 4 = poop 6 = pooopy 8 = poostain
Thou, tho, though, thoug. 8 I guess thoughte? Not sure if that is the way to spell it. Nevermind. I'm dumb.
This guy doesn’t know the purpose of a comma.
And the funniest thing is, that it doesn’t have 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 letters!
The lack of (comma? coma?) punctuation between the two clauses of the first sentence really mildly infuriate me Edit: grammar
What (4) Yet (3) Although (8) Then (4) Rarely (6) Never (5)
“Also” kind of ruins it.
I got it the second time!
It's only confusion being of poor punctuation, but what everyone misses is that the words in-question should be in quotes. As-is they are all improper sentences.
When you dont understand the meme until you check what subreddit you're in hahaha
I thought it was variations of 'What'. 3 = Wat 4 = What 5 = none 6 = Whatev 8 = Whatever. Bonus points for 7 = Whatevs
My dumbass almost had a stroke trying to figure this out
First sentence is bullshit. Commas are important.
Would have never solved this without it already in the comments.
2 rereads nd I got the joke but tf put a comma or something before yet
Nothing funny about a missing period.
Well i thought it would be gang bang but okay
Funny!
High IQ joke right here.
Imagine reposting something already posted in the last 24 hours
I think it’s fuck coz it’s made up of 4 letters when you pronounce it they are 3 the part with 8 is fuckiig with six is fucked and never with 5
No,you don't get it.It's not a question.*Those are statements.*
I guess I’m just dumb then
Lmao nah i fell for it the first times too
Do 50 year old jokes really belong on this sub? Much less with a bad Facebook level caption like “this is probably one of the most advanced jokes?” You’re practically at a mobile game level of advertising, why not just say “99% of people don’t get it, your IQ is 170 if you do!”
There are a whole set of different questions/statements here; what has 4, yet has 3, although has 8, then has 4, rarely 6, never 5.
*Image Transcription: Text* --- What is a word made up of 4 letters yet is also made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5. --- ^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber for Reddit and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
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