Jason Rimbaud Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 If the answer is 84, then what is the question? Jason R. Link to comment
Graeme Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 What is twice the answer to life the universe and everything? Link to comment
Trab Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 If the question is, "If the answer is 84, then what is the question?", what is the answer? I think Graeme has fallen into your trap, Jason. The "84" is not in quotes, therefore that is not the answer. The way it is written, the answer is aged to 84 of something, and sheer logic would indicate that it needs to be more than seconds, more than minutes, possibly hours, but most likely days or years. So we're looking for something to which the answer has been known for 84 years. Hmm. Any old people out there? Des? Cole? Just kidding. Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 The only question I see in the whole riddle is, "what?" C PS- And old is a matter of attitude, you young whippersnapper you, Trab! Link to comment
Madrigal Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 If the question is, "If the answer is 84, then what is the question?", what is the answer?I think Graeme has fallen into your trap, Jason. The "84" is not in quotes, therefore that is not the answer. The way it is written, the answer is aged to 84 of something, and sheer logic would indicate that it needs to be more than seconds, more than minutes, possibly hours, but most likely days or years. So we're looking for something to which the answer has been known for 84 years. Hmm. Any old people out there? Des? Cole? Just kidding. lmao. You're too funny :P. is the question "How old is the answer?"? :P Maddy (: Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 If the answer is 84, then what is the question?Jason R. Trab's analysis is very clever, full of insight that only an inquiring mind could have postulated. However, I have to say that not everything has a question. Maybe, 84 just "is." Link to comment
JamesSavik Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 There are an infinite number of questions to which the answer can be 84. What can I make on this test and keep a B-? 84 The square of an irrational number? 84 The upper limit for IQs of evangelical conservatives? 84* The number of cat hairs I ate with supper? 84 [hack] What is the product of the primes 2*2*3*7? 84 What is the least common denominator of 2/168, 4/252 and 5/420? 84 What is nine squared plus three? 84 ___________________________________________________________________________ *- that's The "true believers". Not the con men and hucksters that manipulate and use them. Their IQs are higerer but their morals are lower. Link to comment
Hylas Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 42 of course. That's the answer to everything. Link to comment
Trab Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 42 of course.That's the answer to everything. You need to keep in mind that the answer is 84, therefore, if 42 is the answer to everything, just what is 84 the answer to? I venture to suggest that maybe it is the answer to everything, twice; maybe unintentionally uttered by someone with poor short term memory. "42...42" On the other hand, 42, 42 is more likely to be interpreted as 4,242 thereby completely bypassing the true answer (to obviously not everything). Maybe we need to look at this as a typo, and that 84 is not truly what it seems at first glance. Maybe it was verbally communicated, and suffered in the translation to print. It might have been uttered at a golf game...The two boys weren't really watching what was going on around them, as they discussed what gross things they had seen eaten by others. "Then Sandra ate...eeee: fore" Mark yelled, as he was frightened in mid-sentence, screamed in panic, then thought to yell out a warning about the flying ball. So, as you can see, the answer of 84 may actually be a golf ball at a moment of inattention. Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 My vote is for Trab to write the sequel to "HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Link to comment
Hylas Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Hey did you know that the fascination for the number 42 did not actually start with 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'? It actually began with Lewis Carroll, and incidentally the creators of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' were fans of Lewis Carroll (obviously, since their own work is mostly nonsense, LOL) Quoted from Wikipedia, but you can check his works. ;) 1) He wrote The Hunting Of The Snark when he was 42. 2) Douglas Adams divided the radio series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy into "fits", after a suggestion by Geoffrey Perkins, inspired by the Hunting of the Snark. 3) The Baker (a character in The Hunting Of The Snark) is around the same age, as the phrase "I skip forty years" in Fit the Third: The Baker's Tale discloses. 4) The Baker had "forty-two boxes, all carefully packed, With his name painted clearly on each" (Fit the First), which he left on the beach, presumably his previous life. 5) Rule 42 of the Code (!) in the preface of The Hunting of the Snark: No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm 6) Rule 42 in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: All persons more than a mile high to leave the court 7) and the fact that Carroll referred to his age as 42 when he was still in his thirties (!) Now back to the question... The question was: What is the question? The answer to everything is 42. Hence 42! You can probably use that as a question... i.e. Man 2: 42! Man 1: 42? Man 2: 84! Man 1: What was my question? Man 2: 42! Man 1: Are you sure? Man 2: 42! Man 1: Do you like cats? Man 2: 42! Man 1: ... Man 2: 42! ...ad infinitum... Note: Man 2 may be slightly retarded. Link to comment
Trab Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Maybe Man 2 is at the end of his personal universe? Link to comment
colinian Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Actually, the answer to Jason's riddle and to Hylas' discourse on "42" is the ever-applicable: Whatever Colin Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Actually, the answer to Jason's riddle and to Hylas' discourse on "42" is the ever-applicable:Whatever Colin And the answer to Whatever is of course ...42 2 "whatevers," however, therefore, and thusly, add up to...84. And that answers that! Link to comment
dude Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Since this thread started... I have discovered NOBODY on the Island of Borneo stocks Tylenol! Link to comment
Trab Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I'm sorry to hear that Dude, truly sorry. Have you tried at some of the luxury hotels? Places like the Hilton usually carry that type of stuff for their wealthy guests. Mind you, one has to wonder if anyone that rich has any reason to have a headache at all, unless they just got dive bombed by the seagull of sadness during Black Monday a few days ago. I had a huge breakthrough in my thinking about 42, and it actually woke me up from my deep slumber, hence this post at 4 a.m. (my time). 42 may be the answer to everything, but we are looking at this the wrong way. Just because it is the answer to everything, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS THE ANSWER EACH THING. Like, if we had a 1, a 2, a 3, and a 4 lying around, the answer to everything (in this scenario) is 10, but the answer to 2+2 is still 4. See what I mean? What it amounts to, is that EVERYONE HAS BEEN RIGHT ALL ALONG, AND THERE'S NO NEED FOR DISCUSSION AT ALL. :sneaky: Link to comment
Insomniac Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I'm sorry to hear that Dude, truly sorry. Have you tried at some of the luxury hotels? Places like the Hilton usually carry that type of stuff for their wealthy guests. Mind you, one has to wonder if anyone that rich has any reason to have a headache at all, unless they just got dive bombed by the seagull of sadness during Black Monday a few days ago.I had a huge breakthrough in my thinking about 42, and it actually woke me up from my deep slumber, hence this post at 4 a.m. (my time). 42 may be the answer to everything, but we are looking at this the wrong way. Just because it is the answer to everything, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS THE ANSWER EACH THING. Like, if we had a 1, a 2, a 3, and a 4 lying around, the answer to everything (in this scenario) is 10, but the answer to 2+2 is still 4. See what I mean? What it amounts to, is that EVERYONE HAS BEEN RIGHT ALL ALONG, AND THERE'S NO NEED FOR DISCUSSION AT ALL. :wav: :wav: Sometimes you confuse the hell out of me Trab, all of you for that matter... Want me to mail you some Tylenol Dude? I think I'm headed out myself to pick some up Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Dude, You probably have Asian markets closer even than where I am. I use a herbal tea made in Malaysia for headaches and have for umpteen years. It is called Ho Yan Hor. No I am not being funny, that is its name. Also known as Cap Daun Teh Herba. Look for it in Asian supermarkets. As it is an all herbal remedy, it is quite safe and relieves all but the most persistent headaches. I have not taken Tylenol or any other head ache relievers except this tea for over 30 years. The tea was first made in 1941 so it predates all this 42 nonsense, putting a stop that pain before it even begins. Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Sometimes you confuse the hell out of me Trab, all of you for that matter... How do you think we feel Insomniac? We actually have to think this stuff up and that is not easy. There are some days I have to tell myself to take it easy because I don't want to confuse myself by trying to work out what it is that I am finding so confusing. There are moments when I have to stop and tell myself a joke I haven't heard before. Link to comment
Trab Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 "There are moments when I have to stop and tell myself a joke I haven't heard before." Thank goodness this is becoming easier with the onset of senility, right Des? Right? Des? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more. (I know it's definitely helping me.) Link to comment
Insomniac Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 How do you think we feel Insomniac? We actually have to think this stuff up and that is not easy.There are some days I have to tell myself to take it easy because I don't want to confuse myself by trying to work out what it is that I am finding so confusing. There are moments when I have to stop and tell myself a joke I haven't heard before. Lol, you guys are great Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I enjoy the compassion noted from everyone for Dude's headache, but think it's unwarranted. I didn't read his malady as an actual headache, but a metaphorical one caused by too much attention to a nonsensical question and the ensuing metaphysical responses. That being the case, if it be, then the answer isn't to find various and creative ways to score some Tylenol; it's to end this nonsense forthwith and dispense with 84, no matter what it's meaning or lack thereof. Without the source, the metaphor dies. Or I could be all wet and the headache approaching the pounding, throbbing, seeing spots and nauseous stage. C Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 I enjoy the compassion noted from everyone for Dude's headache, but think it's unwarranted. I didn't read his malady as an actual headache, but a metaphorical one caused by too much attention to a nonsensical question and the ensuing metaphysical responses. That being the case, if it be, then the answer isn't to find various and creative ways to score some Tylenol; it's to end this nonsense forthwith and dispense with 84, no matter what it's meaning or lack thereof. Without the source, the metaphor dies.Or I could be all wet and the headache approaching the pounding, throbbing, seeing spots and nauseous stage. C Without the source we all die, and 42 will then amount to equalling nothing, zilch, zero, nought. That would be the dark side of the sauce of course, which is usually plum because ketchup is too light in color. It is possible to overcome a metaphysical headache by meditation, but it is probably wise to avoid meditating on anything over 41 so that you don't meditate on everything at once. Link to comment
colinian Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Without the source we all die, and 42 will then amount to equalling nothing, zilch, zero, nought.That would be the dark side of the sauce of course, which is usually plum because ketchup is too light in color. It is possible to overcome a metaphysical headache by meditation, but it is probably wise to avoid meditating on anything over 41 so that you don't meditate on everything at once. Ergo: Whatever And two of them would be redundant. Colin Link to comment
DesDownunder Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Ergo:Whatever And two of them would be redundant. Colin Touche Link to comment
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