What can run but never walks,
Has a mouth but never talks,
Has a bed but never sleeps,
Has a head but never weeps?

[spoiler]
A river!
[/spoiler]

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

[quote name='slayemin' timestamp='1347190286' post='4978267']
What can run but never walks,
Has a mouth but never talks,
Has a bed but never sleeps,
Has a head but never weeps?

Bedroom programmer ?
[/quote]
Spur of the moment adaptation, so might not be too great:


[indent=1]What can run but has no legs,
[indent=1]Can read, but has no eyes,
[indent=1]Can sleep, but has no bed,
Can write, but has no hands,
Can think, but has no head?

[spoiler]An executable.
Just be glad I didn't make any 'bite/byte' jokes. [/spoiler]

[edit:] [size=2]Whoops, BCullis added a riddle - didn't mean to distract from his.

Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...
[spoiler]
It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.
[/spoiler]

[quote name='BCullis' timestamp='1347639085' post='4980104']
Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...
[spoiler]
It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.
[/spoiler]
[/quote]

[spoiler] It's the speaker's son I think. The first sentence kind of misleads you because it's not really super important.[/spoiler]

[quote name='BCullis' timestamp='1347639085' post='4980104']
Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...
[spoiler]
It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.
[/spoiler]
[/quote]

[spoiler]
That's the same argument that came up at work, actually. Semantics muddies this one.

The "canon" answer was 'my son' since the difference between using self-reference and third-person reference is supposed to prevent the "himself" condition. It communicates the idea better if "this man" is replaced with "person X", but doesn't flow as lyrically.
[/spoiler]

way2:
[spoiler]
Correct, but the first line is important: otherwise it could be the speaker's nephew.
[/spoiler]

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

[quote name='slayemin' timestamp='1347641542' post='4980116']
[quote name='BCullis' timestamp='1347639085' post='4980104']
Adding a lightweight from the whiteboard at work recently:

"Though brothers and sisters I have none,
this man's father is my father's son.

Who is this man?"

Alright, I'm going to guess...
[spoiler]
It's himself. He's an only child.
Sentence 2: In the first part, he's referring to himself in the third person. In the second part, he's refering himself in the first person.
[/spoiler]
[/quote]

[spoiler]
That's the same argument that came up at work, actually. Semantics muddies this one.

The "canon" answer was 'my son' since the difference between using self-reference and third-person reference is supposed to prevent the "himself" condition. It communicates the idea better if "this man" is replaced with "person X", but doesn't flow as lyrically.
[/spoiler]
[/quote]
[spoiler] I think using the "this man" in the question "Who is this man?" makes the difference. I'm a little confused though. Let's say we have a = speaker, b = speaker's father, and c = speaker's son.

If self reference:
this man's father == b
my father's son == a
This man's father is my father's son == a=b ???

If not.
this man = x (undefined man)
this man's father = x+ (can't think of a good notation for this)
my father's son = a
x+= a
x = a- = b

Am I misunderstanding the argument?
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]
Correct, but the first line is important: otherwise it could be the speaker's nephew.
[/spoiler]
[/quote]
Ah yea.

What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

An orange parrot?

[quote name='BeanDog' timestamp='1347654300' post='4980165']
What's orange and sounds like a parrot?

An orange parrot?
[/quote]
A carrot, obviously.