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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 14:35

‘Walked up is sob’? I don’t get it

FindaPenny · 03/12/2018 14:35

Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but could part of it be a play on words for/four.
So four short (four letters missing) they called him Bos.... Don't know what that has to do with the steps/post office part!

Drogosnextwife · 03/12/2018 14:38

Ypur friend and her whole family are total wankers! Who does that to people?
OP please put us out our misery and tell us you are taking the piss.

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets · 03/12/2018 14:38

Four short, they called him Bos.

I reckon that’s it. It’s just a riddle along the lines of the annoying impossible ones my dad is fond of that are almost impossible to guess.

A man leaves his penthouse every day and goes downstairs in the lift. He usually comes home and walks upstairs, unless it’s raining, in which case he takes the lift up.

SundayGirls · 03/12/2018 14:39

Are you sure the man's name was BosWELL and not BosWALL? as in Bos WALked?

(it would still be the crappiest play on names/words ever though).

KittensAndChristmasCake · 03/12/2018 14:39

Refuse to speak to her ever again if she doesn’t give you the answer!!

But before you do, give her a bloody good slap from me 😡

MummySharkDooDooDooDoo · 03/12/2018 14:39

Most post offices I've seen have a ramp, not steps - presumably because they transport letters in those trolleys. Is this likely to be something to do with the joke - post offices don't usually have steps.

Eliza9917 · 03/12/2018 14:39

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

I think its 'four/for short, they called him Bos'

Which so fucking stupid it's unbelievable. Please disassociate from this family immediately.

BumsexAtTheBingo · 03/12/2018 14:40

Yep balls either from the op or the friend. If it was a clever riddle someone would have shared it online and if it was rubbish there’s no way there’d be this big thing about ‘getting it’.
If the op isn’t on the wind up her friend definitely is. I know they said that making you puzzle over it when there’s no answer isn’t what’s funny but they would say that wouldn’t they?
If this is real your friend sounds like a pita.

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 14:41

A man leaves his penthouse every day and goes downstairs in the lift. He usually comes home and walks upstairs, unless it’s raining, in which case he takes the lift up.

Well thats just a nice story isnt it? Nothing to figure out :D

AnnaMcDonel · 03/12/2018 14:41

This reply has been deleted

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MyHairNeedsASnip · 03/12/2018 14:42

Is it not that you're just supposed to say 'well?' after the joke? It's not funny but...

Woodenspoons · 03/12/2018 14:43

I'm wondering if it's one of these ones where it's not actually anything to do with the riddle but something done after it. Like everyone who "solves" it can see that everyone crosses their arms or scratches their chin or something after saying it?

DerekTheWonderdog · 03/12/2018 14:43

I think the four short idea is right and then there's something about walked up?
^
There was a woman called Boswell, four (letters) short, they called her Bos and she^ walk tup/wool tap ??????

There's got to be a link between 'walked up' - pronounced differently and Bos, well, four/for short.

TeenTimesTwo · 03/12/2018 14:43

Yippee But that one is easy

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
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He is too short to reach the penthouse button of the lift, so normally walks up the stairs but when it is raining he can reach the button with his umbrella.

Crazykerfuffle · 03/12/2018 14:43

This is so annoying...

we have two versions at least now which makes it even more weird:

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

Then in a more recent post the (really, really annoying smug friend!!!) says it is:
'There was a man, whose name was boswell. And for short they called him bos. And he walked up the post office steps'

but actually he could have just approached the PO...... or the library or..... any - bloody-where!! and it wasn't anything to do with getting the missing letters from the post office (which I thought were good suggestions from PP)!!!

If its a clever play on words, surely we need the exact words??

This is getting on my nerves now.... and its bound to be a massive anti -climax if we find the answer......!

JaneJeffer · 03/12/2018 14:44

Is your "friend " currently on I'm a Celebrity?

VotingFox · 03/12/2018 14:44

Can it be any building or location? A laundry, a circus? POs and libraries are both public, municipal, wordy places.

We need to isolate all the different semantic elements and by a process of exclusion get your bloody friend to identify all the variables until only the essentials remain, à la Sherlock Holmes.

Badgersmummy25 · 03/12/2018 14:45

Isn't it just the stupid thing that Bos is 4 (for - obviously a play on four/for) letters short than Boswell. The rest re the steps is just fluff? That is all I can think.

DerekTheWonderdog · 03/12/2018 14:46

Piss off Anna

I like Voting's idea - we need to Sherlock Holmes 🕵️‍♀️ it.

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 14:47

Thats what i think badger

I actually think that if the op is a troll then we have actually done a good job to develop this non-riddle into an actual riddle :D :D

ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 14:47

So the first half is solved: four short = Bos.

Second half: we’ve established the post office bit isn’t important so we’re focusing on the ‘and he walked up the steps’.

OP’s demon friend said it’s better done in person that written, which is true for the first half, so the second half must be similar.

VanGoghsDog · 03/12/2018 14:48

Dammit, I just lost the game, and that is in fact the second time today and I lost it last night too!

Whisky2014 · 03/12/2018 14:48

Byt they also said doesnt matter about the steos. It could just be "approach the post office". Which means that whole thing is irrelevant too

ForgetMeLots · 03/12/2018 14:50

So we’re left with ‘and he walked up’?