Help with a mumsnet riddle?

[lovingllamaa]

My friend knows this riddle/joke which she learnt on mumsnet, but will not tell me the answer and despite months of me trying to work it out i still have no idea about it and she simply will not tell me. I know she learnt about it from a post on AIBU on mumsnet so I have searched the forums for an answer and despite finding a few threads on it... still no answer! Apparently she learnt the answer, or what there is to 'get' about it, from private messaging someone the answer and them telling her that she was right.

Anyway.. it is really annoying me, and I am know it should not, but I just would really like to know.

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

Any help will be greatly appreciated. :)

If you missed this the first time, don't go back and read the old threads. It really will be anticlimactic. There is no satisfactory answer and 100s of pages of repetitive and far fetched solutions. Don't feel FOMO over this.

Is there a reason why everybody is being so rude to the OP?

I've never endured the boredom of this riddle before, despite years and hours on MN (not proud).

There have been many subjects raised repeatedly.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Read the linked thread... it will probably make more sense then!

But don't hate me...

Is this the one where the OP “worked out” the answer and then “couldn’t reveal it”?

Yep!

or more likely because some of the posters actually tried to solve the riddle and are still offended that they were the butt of a joke

Enough internet for me today, not going through all that shite again

Mother of fuck

Please no

Mother of fuck

Please no

Ditto.

Yeah, the joke is the joke. It's funny to see the look of bewilderment on other people's faces when they don't get it. That's all that's funny.

Here's one: What's the difference between a duck ? One of it's legs is both the same.

It makes no sense. It's not funny. It's only funny because it's nonsense and you kinda, 'had to be there at the time' many years ago.

So there's two solutions to damn Boz/Bos (which was the pen name of Charles Dickens btw) However:

1. 'and he walked up the Post Office steps' was his last name.
2. Bos is the Latin word for letters, apparently. So, he was posting himself. Yep makes no sense.

Who ever resurrected this I hope they are enjoying seeing it run and run. All over again.

No one in the non-MN world will have heard of the Boz riddle. Or utter stupidity. The sheer fact it's come back (the poster a picture of innocence of course) proves what a wind-up it really is.

Bos is Latin for letters

Surely it's Latin for cows and related animals.

What's the difference between a duck ? One of it's legs is both the same.

it's much more funny than the riddle

@BIWI I have been a member of mumsnet for a couple of years...

Also I was just genuinely curious. I didn't realise it was such a sensitive subject for some people, so I am sorry for offending you.

Thank you to those who tried to explain :)

Not this again.

I blame the first version of this for me developing migraines.

I know the answer.

There is no actual answer. You merely tell people you know the answer, but say you can’t reveal it, they’ll have to work it out. You then sit back and watch pages of confusion and frustration. It’s hilarious
Fin.

that summarise at least of the threads on this forum to be fair

"for short" = "four short", so Boswell becomes Bos and off he goes with his "letters". Some people won't accept that it was just never funny nor clever.

Oh piss off

And yes, Bos is Latin for cow. I don't think that has anything to do with it.

That. It doesn't work written down.

Boswell was a man of letters
Four letters short he was Bos
Post office steps to post his four letters

Not oa riddle, just an old fashioned, out of its time, word play!

No no no.
No one knows.