2. A man threw something away. He then paid someone else twenty dollars to try to find it but the search was unsuccessful. Later the man found it easily himself. How?

The man fell overboard from a small boat at the seashore. He could not swim well and got into difficulties so he threw away the expensive and heavy binoculars around his neck. He was rescued. He then offered a swimmer a reward to dive down and recover his binoculars. This effort was unsuccessful. Later, however, when the tide went out he was able to pick them up off the sand.

3. A man was changing a wheel on his car when the four nuts used to hold the wheel in place well into a sewer drain and were lost. He was afraid he ws stuck there, but a passing boy made a very useful suggestion which enabled the man to drive off. What was the boy's idea?

The boy suggested that the man take one wheel nut off each of the oyher three wheels in order to attach fourth wheel. Once he had done this, the man could safely drive to the nearest garage with each wheel firmly attached by three nuts.

4. A manhole is a hole which allows someone to gain access to the sewers or other pipes which are below ground. Our local town council recently decided that all the town's manhole covers should be changed from square to round ones. We are user to the town council making silly decisions, but this time they were absolutely right. why?

A square or rectangular manhole cover can fall down the hole, while a round manhole cover cannot. The square cover will fit down the diagonal of the hole(unless the rim it sits on is very large) but no matter how you turn a circle it never measures less than its diameter. So for safety and practicality all manhole covers should be round.

5. A man lies dead in a field. Next to him is a long piece of cord. How did he die?

Incredible as it may seem, some people enjoy leaping off high buildings or bridges with a length of elastic cord fastened to them. This pastime is known as bungee jumping. The poor man in this situation died when he jumped from a high cane in the field and his bungee cord broke.

6. The famous penny black, the world's first postage stamp, was introduced in England in 1840. The idea of postage stamps was a great success and was taken up worldwide. Yet the penny Black was in use for only one year before it was replaced by the Penny Red. Why?

The postmark used at that time was always black. It was therefore difficult to tell whether a stamp had been frankled or not. This led to people reusing used stamps. On a Penny red the black postmark was clearly visible.

7. A man had a book which was worth $40,000. Why did he deliberately destroy it?

The man actually owned two copies of the valuable book. By destroying one copy he increased the value of the other.

8. A man parked his car outside a bank and rushed in. He held up twenty-five people and ran out with $200. A policeman who saw the whole incident stopped the man. He told him off and then let him go. Why?

When the man parked his car outside the bank he held up twenty-five people who were stuck in traffic behind him. The policeman told him not to park like that again.

9. How do the publishers of dictionaries or atlases protect themselves from pirates who would copy their work?

Publishers normally include a nonexistent word or a non-existent island in a dictionary or atlas, respectively. If it then appears in somebody else's work, they have clear evidence of copying.

10. Ornithologists now agree that there is a very good reason why birds' eggs are generally narrower at one end than the other. What is the reason?

A spherical or oval egg would roll in a straight line. How-ever, an asymmetrical egg, which is narrower at one end than the other, will tend to roll in a circle. (Try it with a normal hen's egg.) if the eggs are on a cliff edge or other precarious place, the tendency to roll around rather than straight is a distinct advantage.

11. A man went out for a drive. A day later he was found dead in the car. The car had not crashed. How had he died?

The man drove his car to the beach to watch the sunset over the waves. He fell asleep. The tide came in and seeped in around the car doors and windows. He awoke, but with the pressure of the water, he couldn't get out of the car. The water filled the car and drowned him. Later the tide went out and he was found dead in an empty car.

12. Visitors to a scenic mountain village were often amused by the village idiot. When offered a choice between a shiny 50-cent piece and a crumpled $5 bill, he would always happily choose the half-dollar. The bill was worth ten times as much, so why did he never choose it?

The so-called village idiot was smart enough to realize that as long as he kept choosing the 50-cent piece, people would keep offering him the choice. If he once took the $5 bill, the stream of coins would stop rolling in.

16. A man's lifelong ambition was to achieve a certain goal yet he insured himself against achieving it. What was the goal?

This is the true story from Japan. The man easd a keen golfer and his lifelong ambition was to score a hole in one. But this would prove very expensive as the custom at his golf club was that anyone who scored a hole in one had to buy all the other members a drink.

17. A child was born with its legs so wasted that it would never be able to walk. When they learned this, the child's parents were especially happy that the child was crippled rather than normal and healthy. Why?

This is a true story from India. The child was born into a family of beggars in Calcutta. The parents knew that a crippled child would earn more as a beggar than a healthy child would.

18. A French glove manufacturer received an order for 5,000 pairs of expensive sealskin gloves from New York department store. HE then learned that there was a very expensive tax on the import of sealskin gloves into the United States. How did he (legitimately) get the gloves into the country without paying the import tax?

The manufacturer sent 5,000 right-hand gloves to Miami and 5,000 left-hand gloves to New York. He refused to pay the duty on them so both sets of gloves were impounded. Since no body claimed them, both lots were subsequently sold off at auction. They went for a very low price (who wants 5,000 left hand gloves?). Naturally, it was the clever Frenchman who one with a very low bid at each auction.

19. A man stabbed his wife to death. He was alone with his victim before and after the crime. To throw the police off the scent he suddenly decided to leave false fingerprints one the murder weapon. How did he do it?

The man put his wife's big-toe print on the knife and left it beside the body. He could have used his own toe-print but that could have been later traced to him. Once his wife was buried, the "fingerprints" could never be traced.

20. A man was walking in country unfamiliar to him. He came to a crossroads where he found that the signpost showing the directions of the roads had fallen over. How did he find out which way to go?

The man knew the name of the town he had left that morning. So he replaced the sign so that it correctly named the direction he had come from. It would then be correct for all the other directions.

22. A man lies dead in a room, with a cord tied tightly around his neck. The door has been locked from the inside. Outside of the body, there is nothing else in the room. Remembering that one cannot choke oneself (one would pass out before dying.) how did you die

The cord around the man's neck was a piece of rawhide which he had soaked in water before entering the room. Once he had it tightly around his neck it naturally grew tighter as it dried.

23. A man was doing his job but was killed because he lacked a certain piece of furniture. Why

The man was a circus lion tamer who had unfortunately forgotten his chair when he had to face a bad-tempered lion!

25. A man challenged the Masters Golf champion to a round of golf on the condition that he be allowed to chose the time and place of their contest. The champion accepted the challenge but was easily defeated by the challenger. Why?

The challenger was a blind golfer and he arranged to play the champion at midnight on a dark night. The blind man was at no disadvantage in the dark but the champion could not see his ball to hit it. (Blind golfers do play matches and tournaments; they rely on others to indicate where their ball and the hole are.)

26. Can you resolve this argument which arose at a recent bridge match? Spades were trumps. Which is more likely that a pair of players will have no spades dealt to them?

It is equally likely that one couple will have all the trumps as that they will have no trumps between them. For if they have all the trumps if must mean that the other pair has none and vice versa.

27. A visiting school superintendent noticed that whenever he asked one class a question all the children would put up their hands. Moreover, although the teacher always chose a different child to answer, the answer was always correct. Why?

The teacher instructed her pupils always to raise their hands when a question was asked whether they knew the answer or not. If they did not know the answer they should raise their left hand. If they were sure they know the answer they should raise their right hand. The teacher chose a different child each time, but always one who had raised his or her right hand.

28. Protagoras was a lawyer in ancient Greece. As an act of kindness he took on a poor but promising young man as a pupil. He agreed to teach him law but make no charge until the student had won his first case, when the student would repay the tuition fees. The young man gladly agreed to this plan. The student completed his training, and then decided that he did not want to practice law. Instead, he retired to the countryside to keep goats. Protagoras was disgusted at this waste of talent and training and dismayed that he would not be reimbursed for the tuition. He decided to sue his pupil in order to recover his fees. If the two men met in court to argue the case, who do you think would have won?

This is a paradox with no clear-cut answer. Both parties have a good case. It would be interesting to see it argued out in court. Whoever lost could claim to have won-the student in losing would still not have won a case, Protagoras in losing would ensure a first victory for his pupil. Some believe that the most likely outcome of such a situation, if it had come to trial, would have been victory for the student. He was after all under no obligation to practice law and up until that point he had not breached ever, he could sue a second time on grounds that the student had now won a case and was in breach of contract. Protagoras would therefore win the second case and recover his fees. Overall, Protagoras would have won. The student would be smart to choose not to represent himself but to select a good lawyer who could win the first case for him. In that case, since a pupil would still not have won a case, he would have won the contest.

29. At a fancy, upper-class dinner party a precious gold coin was being passed around the table for inspection when suddenly the lights went out. When the lights came on again the coin was missing. A search of each guest was ordered. One man refused to be searched. The police were under a saucer. Why did the guest refuse to be searched?

The man who refused to be searched was an aristocrat who had fallen on very hard times but was trying to keep up appearances. He was so poor, however, that he could scarcely afford to eat. So, while at the dinner, he secretly lined his pockets with food from the table to keep him going for the next few days. Obviously if he was searched his secret would be revealed and he would be humiliated.

30. A girl was eight years old on her first birthday. How could that be?

She was born on February 29, 1986. The year 1900 was not a leapt year (only centuries divisible by 400 are leap years), so the next February 29 fell in 1904 when she was eight. She was twelve on her second birthday.

31. A man suspected his wife of having an affair. One day he told her that he had been suddenly called away on business and would be out of town for a few days. He then left the house but returned an hour later. His wife was not there but he quickly discovered the name and address of her lover. How?

He reasoned that she would have called her lover so he simply pressed the redial button on their telephone. When the man answered with his name the husband told him that he had won a prize draw and asked for the address to which it should be sent.

32. At a children's hospital the patients loved to play with the cuddly teddy bears they had there. Unfortunately, the children liked them so much that the bears were disappearing at an alarming rate as the young patients took them home. How did the hospital solve this problem?

The hospital dressed all their teddy bears with bandages. Then they explained to the little children that the poor teddies had to say at the hospital for their own health and recovery. The children reluctantly but sympathetically agreed.

33. Although there are very few golf tour professionals who are left-handed, most clubs prefer to have left-handed golf pros as instructors. Why?

One of the most important tasks for the golf club professional is giving lessons. Most players are right handed. They can stand opposite a left-handed teacher and watch and copy him more easily. It is just like looking in a mirror, so it makes learning the correct style of swing easier.

35. One day, in a crowded room, a supporter of the Brazilian soccer team saw a supporter of his team's great rivals, Argentina . The Brazilian fan walked over to the Argentinian fan and struck him a fierce blow. The Argentinian fan who had been knocked flat got up from the floor, turned around, and then thanked the man who had hit him. why?

The two men were in a restuarant. The Argentinian fan had a fishbone stuck in his throat and was chocking. The other man was quick-witted enough to give him a strong blow on the back, thereby dislodging the bone and saving his life .