Dungeon Master Forum

Posted: **Mon Sep 01, 2003 8:38 pm**

When is a rock not a rock?

Posted: **Mon Sep 01, 2003 11:35 pm**

It's ok i got it, can't believe how bloody thick i was...

Figured it out several mins after posting this.... typical.... lol

Posted: **Mon Sep 01, 2003 11:37 pm**

Welcome to the forums!

Heh -- that little riddle has stumped quite a few people over the years. Glad you figured it out!

Posted: **Tue Sep 02, 2003 12:19 pm**

It stumped me too, at first. When I finally got it and wanted to move on, that little hairy bugger scared the hell out of me... at least I survived

Regards, PitD

Posted: **Tue Sep 02, 2003 7:53 pm**

Incidentally, Steek must be using an earlier version of DM. The phrase "When is a rock not a rock" was later changed to say "When is rock not rock" because FTL found that lots of people couldn't solve the riddle with the extraneous "a" -- it does change the meaning somewhat and can be quite confusing!

Posted: **Wed Sep 03, 2003 11:47 am**

Please explain for the non-native speakers - why do the "a's" change in the meaning - since you can take it quite literally in this case?

Regards, PitD

Posted: **Wed Sep 03, 2003 11:55 am**

Well, if it said "a rock", that would most likely be taken to mean the object, a rock, as in the small grey thingy that Rock Monsters drop a lot of. But if it's just "rock", that would imply rock in general, and not any particular object. Since the dungeon wall isn't really "a rock", but just plain "rock", this makes more sense.

Posted: **Wed Sep 03, 2003 11:58 am**

Thank you, that makes sense although I'm not Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Regards, PitD

Dungeon Master Forum

Please help i'm stuck

Please help i'm stuck