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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask for your help solving this impossible riddle/joke

999 replies

killingtime9198 · 03/12/2018 10:57

My best friend's family have a family 'joke', which she originally told me about when we were about 12/13. When she originally told me she didn't get the joke either, but then later did manage to work it out. When she first met her now husband he didn't get it, but he later also worked it out. I have never managed to get it, and every now and again I will remember the saga of this joke (this has been going on for about 20 years now), try desperately for a few days to work it out and then forget all about it for months.

Anyway, I wonder if the powers of mumsnet can either locate someone who has heard this 'joke' before, or who can work it out!

The joke is:

'There once was a man called Boswell. For short they called him Bos, and he walked up the post office steps.'

The joke is definitely NOT that there is no joke, and they're all having a laugh at me for trying to work it out - I am 100% confident of this.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 17:19

I’m gonna have to call in sick. I need rest after this.

JaneJeffer · 03/12/2018 17:19

Coincidentally Judas Alice Cooper is on Top Gear on Dave right now

BoswellAndNotAndAFox · 03/12/2018 17:24

There was a man whose name was Boswelland Forshort. They called him, “Bos!” And he walked up the Post Office steps.

I said that like 200 posts ago. glare

crispysausagerolls · 03/12/2018 17:25

OP I think it’s highly selfish of you not to drop everything you have on this evening and go to your friend at once. How the hell else are we all supposed to sleep tonight?!?

TheDarkPassenger · 03/12/2018 17:26

Don’t think I could be friends with this person, genuinely think she’s being bloody ridiculous. But then my friends are nice and would tell me! 😁

OP, I don’t mean to talk out of line but if your friend can’t understand simple word play riddles are you sure she’s giving you accurate answers to your questions?

ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 17:26

Idk I think the only thing left to do is ban the OP, delete the thread and let’s all forget this happened.

Talith · 03/12/2018 17:27

I've been furiously interrogating the into the internet trying to find answers in a way not seen since the Ebay Treasure Hunt of 2005 (God I wish they'd rerun that competition - it was brilliant although equally frustrating).

If you say it out loud "Post Office Steps" sounds like "off his steps"

Maybe more phonetic delving is needed...

But then OP did say the location was irrelevant.

BloodyUseless · 03/12/2018 17:28

There was a man whose name was Boswelland Forshort. They called him, “Bos!” And he walked up the Post Office steps.

But that doesn't make any more sense than the original:

'There once was a man called Boswell. And For short they called him Bos, and he walked up the post office steps.'

And in fact makes less sense as it contains two non-existent names. I can't see how anyone could think this is a solution to a riddle when it's just as meaningless as the original question.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 17:28

Did you BoswellAndNotAFox ? I’ve been here from the start following with great interest and didn’t see it! What time was your post

NewPapaGuinea · 03/12/2018 17:28

“Im posting it again so we dint have to flit back and forth

'There was a man, whose name was boswell. And for short they called him bos. And he walked up the post office steps'”

Chinese whispers. That’s not the original OP unless it’s been corrected??

GreenTeacup · 03/12/2018 17:28

His name was Bos - well four short (he had no legs) can’t walk anywhere!

Talith · 03/12/2018 17:28

No we need to know the answer then delete the thread for evar and definitely not keep in Classics, so that the mystery remains for those, quite frankly not committed enough to apply themselves to the challenge.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 17:29

It makes sense because someone is calling his name from the Post Office hence him walking up the steps or to the library or wherever.

BloodyUseless · 03/12/2018 17:29

I mean, so far all the "solutions" have just been a slightly different reading of the same sentence but with the punctuation changed. It's not like some hidden meaning has been revealed.

Botanica · 03/12/2018 17:30

Reminds me of a similarly crappy non-riddle that someone once told me.

It was to do with the man being short in height, and hence he had to climb up some steps for some reason...

Ive clearly erased the detail from my memory as it was not worth holding on to.

Suggest you do the same and forget this. The more you show your frustration the more they enjoy stringing you along....

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 17:30

newpapa it was amended by the op later after she contacted her friend.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 17:31

The op posted the exact wording from her friend a few pages in.

NewPapaGuinea · 03/12/2018 17:32

'There once was a man called Boswell. For short they called him Bos, and he walked up the post office steps.‘

Is this one of those things that is different written down to when it’s said?

“There once was a man called Bos. Well, four short, they called him. Bos and he walked up the post office steps”

6demandingchildren · 03/12/2018 17:33

How the hell have you lived with this for 20 years and maintained a friendship.
i would of cut their souls out with a blunt spoon while i was blindfolded.

BeekyChitch · 03/12/2018 17:33

WHAT?!

Maybe and he walked up the post office steps. Is like - and he walked up the post of his steps

I'm clutching at straws. I don't know wtf I'm talking about because this joke is so messed up.

NotDavidTennant · 03/12/2018 17:33

Chinese whispers. That’s not the original OP unless it’s been corrected??

There's some further clarifying information from the OP on page 7.

BloodyUseless · 03/12/2018 17:33

It makes sense because someone is calling his name from the Post Office hence him walking up the steps or to the library or wherever.

So the whole thing is to solve the enormous puzzle of why someone is walking up some steps? And the intriguing answer to puzzling mystery is that someone called his name...?

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 17:34

Fuck sake OP. There are a few folk wh9 know the answer:
Your friend
Her husband
Her mother
And another friend who worked it out.

Someone will tell you. Stop being meek. We need to know!!!

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 17:34

Well I think that’s the riddle. It is shit granted.

Botanica · 03/12/2018 17:34

Bos is four letters short (four short) of Boswell..,,

Can't believe I'm getting sucked into this...