I NEED MORE ABOUT BOS WELL - solve a riddle part two

[Bamchicabaawaa]

I have just read forty pages of thread and it’s almost full! Let us congregate here for answers!

I think I might have got it.

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

The listener, in their confusion at the nonsensical riddle, asks, "Well?" (Meaning, so? Is that it?)

The teller says, "I really can't tell you?" (Meaning...I can't tell you if Bos walked up the PO steps 'well' (ie properly) or not, because I don't know)

It is a play on the word 'Well'. The listener asks 'Well?' meaning 'Tell me more." The teller takes this to mean 'Did he do it well?' and so answers "I can't tell you." (Because they don't know if he walked well or not).

That is why the answer will always be 'I can't tell you." because they really don't know how well he climbed the steps.

This has got to be it, surely? If this IS IT, it is SHIT!

If someone told me that shit, nonsensical ‘riddle’ in person, my reply wouldn’t be “Well?”, it would be “Eh? The fuck are you going on about?”
Possibly followed by a punch to the nose after this thread

Whatever way you look at it the answer has to be "I can't tell you" because the ones who have apparently solved it are all saying the same thing. What a bore. Let's just accept that's the answer and move on from this bollocks.

Yes, agreed. The answer has got to be 'I can't tell you.' But what a crap joke! Bitterly disappointed if that is it.

Can one of the original riddle solvers confirm whether my guess is correct then we can all move on?

I have a suggestion. What if we try to create a riddle/joke of our own that actually works? the main character must be Boswell but it can't contain any of the other elements of the original post or the "solutions" that have followed.

Come on mumsnet - we can make our own satisfactory ending to this debacle!

As a starting point I always like those riddles that describe something in a new way like 'Thirty white horses on a red hill' meaning teeth. Or the letter ones ('my first is in... but not in ...)
Anyone fancy having a go at either of those building up from Boswell? Then we can chip in with other suggestions/refinements till we have our own mumsnet riddle.

OP Post highlights are clearly unimportant as we are all refreshing and reading live wink

Not if the thread has over 300 posts when we start.

I think I go the answer to it at the bottom of the previous page? It all fits and makes sense, although is completely not funny at all. PLEASE tell me this is correct as it's bugging me way more than it should and I reckon I might be right ;-)

I think Bexy’s is the most logical answer I’ve seen, though I’d punctuate it like this:
There once was a man called Bos, well for short. They called him “Bos!” and he walked up the post office steps.

The idea that it relies on the listener saying”well?” doesn’t really work in my opinion, as they might actually just say “err.. what the hell?!”

Either way, it’s a pretty crap joke!

Some very weird posts by Derek the Wonderdog on that suitcase thread referenced above do make me think that this whole thread of weirdness has been concocted by her/him with a name change. V odd - and kind of hilarious that people are still finding 'solutions' to it

Once there was a bastard called Boswell, and he had badger and rice for his tea.

The Boscome theory... if they called him, as in "Bos, come..." argh, I don't know where I'm going with that now. Hate myself for being sucked in! Nothing to do with him being a postmas I suppose? Due to the involvement of letters? Argh, I need to walk away now and stop hitting refresh!

*postman

I'm increasingly of the opinion that there's no solution you can reach by analysing the words of the riddle. The riddle is more along the lines of, "I will pique your interest by saying I can't solve this, so you will try to solve it. See how everyone scurries around trying to analyse the words and come up with theories and get all cross about it. Then they'll realise there IS no solution. They are then one of the elite "knowers". Elite knowers can then pose the question themselves, pre-ambling with the whole "I can't get this, will someone clever please help". People always think they're clever, so they have a go, but now YOU get to feel smug watching the people scurry hither and thither to solve the unsolvable.

I think it's like what BlockRockinBeats said but simpler. You are supposed to say why/what for? and the teller says they really can't tell you because they don't know why Bos went up the steps as they don't know him.

If that's it then I preferred the one about collecting his 4 lost letters from the post office and think the answer should be changed

Just to clarify. I most definitely am not the OP of this thread, I didn't start it, I'm not killingtime and I've done no sock puppetry - very easy to check with HQ if you feel the need. I've been here about 10 years and Derek is my name at the moment.

@Storm4star - see my posts!!
I said I thought I worked it out, AND explained it.
All the other people (3 as far as I can see: the OP, derek and useless) are not saying it because they are just playing along the "I can't tell you the answer because there is no answer'

@dogzdinner - you mentioned that derek had first said that s/he had worked it out and then said 'we would never know the answer' as if that proved that she was posting with a different name etc etc

It does not - s/he said that because s/he was playing along the 'there is no answer' answer to the 'riddle'

That's why poster BloodyUseless said it was quite an existential riddle.

You are probably right. I can't imagine getting any enjoyment from such a thing personally and feel slightly grubby now that I have allowed it to take up head space!

Derek - On the badger cafe thread you're now saying that you 'posted an anecdote not a riddle' on this thread - care to elaborate?

No DairyQueen, I was answering Weeee, who followed me .... along with you aswell it seems. I find that weird to be honest. Weeee stated that I'd posted a riddle on the post she's highlighted above, I was telling Weeee that it wasn't a riddle but an anecdote.

I'd quite like to kick Bos's arse down the fucking steps!

Derek, why did you say this after claiming that you'd solved it -

We're never going to find out are we OP? Also, if your friend hasn't told you for 20 years what's going to change her mind on Thursday?

@mnhq is it true that the OP and Derek are not the same person?

The teller says, "I really can't tell you?" (Meaning...I can't tell you if Bos walked up the PO steps 'well' (ie properly) or not, because I don't know

Yes I reckon it's this. So whenever we are asking "so what's the answer?' OP and her bastard friends say "I don't know" because they don't know if he walked 'well' or not.

Absolutely bloody pathetic 😡

I think I know it?

Hint: Andy

@mnhq is it true that the OP and Derek are not the same person?