Almost all children love riddles. Yes, and many adults will not refuse to think about an interesting puzzle. With the help of such tasks, the level of human intelligence is checked. Their special form is made up of questions in which the ambiguity of words is played out . An example of such a question is the riddle: “Which tape cannot be woven into a pigtail?” After all, this riddle can have quite a few answers.
The answer to the riddle lies in the polysemy of the word
The main meaning of the word “ribbon” is a braid or a narrow strip of fabric, often used to decorate a female hairstyle. However, the transfer of meaning in appearance includes in the meaning of the word and the road, river, piece of land. So, the answer to the question about which tape can not be woven into a pigtail, maybe - a road or a river. In production, in stores, a tape is a moving web - a conveyor belt. Films were previously recorded on film, which had the form of a tape. And then to the transfer by type, the transfer by action worked. The film itself began to be called tape. And for a long time films have been shot on discs, but in colloquial speech the phrase remained: "I watched this tape." So, to the question of which tape cannot be woven into a pigtail, it is quite possible to answer: “A movie!” And there is one interesting meaning to this word. The replacement of the order - a piece of silk fabric of the corresponding color - is also called a ribbon. By asking which tape cannot be braided, you can get the answer: "Order!"
Homony-based riddles
Riddles in which homonyms are used are very common . These are words that have the same spelling and pronunciation, but are completely different in meaning. On this property of the Russian language, many comic riddles for children are built. For example, to the question of what kind of key, which cannot be opened, the word "spring" will be the answer. And how to answer such a riddle: "This braid is not woven, but it will be found in the river"? Of course, you need to answer that this spit is a shallow in the river. Often, teachers of the Russian language, wanting to expand the vocabulary of students, turn to such riddles in the classroom. It doesn’t matter how old the person to whom the question is asked, because the questions themselves can be complicated. For example, high school students will be interested in breaking their brains over the task: “Pick up a word that in one sense means an animal, and in another - a clergyman.” Not immediately and not every adult will answer that this is the word “lama”.
The obsolete meaning of the word in modern riddles
Answering some puzzles sometimes requires knowledge of the obsolete meanings of the word. That is the question:
“In one sense, I am a bench,
in another, I’m a little shop.
You guess, my friend, be able to,
Let the family help you! ”
Why is poetry advised to seek help from relatives? Yes, because modern young people are unlikely to know that previously shops were called shops. But the bench can also be called this word. By the way, such comic riddles with answers that require certain knowledge of the Russian language, reveal to children the widest possibilities of speech. They arouse interest in the language, make Russian lessons at school more exciting, rich.