THE ...GRY RIDDLE answer.

NOTICE: I obtained the following explanation to the ...GRY riddle from a web site by JERRY TAYLOR. I'd like to take credit for solving the riddle myself, but, I was just as much in the dark as you are. I even had read as far as the b's in my dictionary.

Mr. Taylor created a web site just to publish this answer and requests that NO ONE send him an E-mail of thanks or whatever. He has had the answer/site posted for over two years and is now flooded with more E's on the subject than he can handle. Due to his request I won't publish his site address.

Here is his answer: By now most of you have seen the seemingly- perplexing riddle that's been going around...why does this riddle continue to mystify even the hardiest puzzle solvers? SIMPLE. It's because the riddle itself is almost always stated INCORRECTLY! ... The way the riddle is most often told there IS no answer.

Let's start by reading the riddle as it is usually told: "There are three words in the English language that end in GRY. Two are HUNGRY and ANGRY. The third one everyone uses every day and knows what it stands for. If you listened carefully, I have already told you what the word is."

Sound familiar? I'll bet that YOU heard the riddle worded something like that, right? ... But you know what? There IS no correct answer! This riddle, or a version of it, has been around for at least twenty years. In the ORIGINAL format (as you'll soon see), it makes sense and is a true riddle in the sense that, once you find the answer, you slap your forehead and go "Of course!"

So, what IS the correct version, you ask? Be patient, because first we have to consider the nature of riddles. By definition, they are mind teasers that use word tricks. A riddle is not a trivia question for which you can go to a reference book and look up an answer. In a true riddle, there's always some sneaky little trick that makes such a straight answer impossible. So to find the sneaky little trick in this -GRY puzzler, think of the way magic is performed. The magician does something to divert your attention away from what he is actually up to. If you watch very closely when all those scarves are being waved about, you realize that most of the action on stage is simply a technique to confuse or befuddle you so that you will not catch on to the magician's sly movements.

Here is the riddle in its original form... going back about 20 years:

"Think of words ending in -GRY. ANGRY and HUNGRY are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."

In its proper, original form, the first two sentences have absolutley nothing to do with the question: "Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them."

Ignore those two sentences. They are there only to throw you off course. What's left is the actual riddle itself: "There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."

The key is the phrase "the English language." In this three-word phrase, the third word is "language". Get it? "Language" is definitely something that everyone uses every day. Without that quirky little twist, the puzzle would be just another trivia question, not a riddle.

You might be tempted to say something like: "That can't be the right answer. It's too stupid!" Hey! Remember that most riddles ARE stupid. For example, there's an old riddle which asks: "What is Bozo The Clown's middle name?" The answer is"The".

A final note: There are, or have been in the past, a number of English words ending in GRY. For example, "mawgry" and "iggry" and even an obscure noun, "gry", that means a small unit of measure. Many people thought they had solved this puzzle when they found one of these words in an old dictionary or by scouring the internet. But c'mon, folks, when;s the last time you used a word like mawgry or iggry in everyday conversation? The thing about riddles is, you must follow them to the letter or they just don't work. This one got messed up somewhere along the way and has become somewhat of a cruel hoax.