Лингвокультурологические особенности английских загадок

And played all night till break of day;

They played for money and not for fun,

With separate scores for every one.

Yet when they came to square accounts,

They all had made quite fair amounts!

Can you the paradox explain?

If no one lost, how could all gain? (The Four men were musicians. After the performance they were all paid).

23. Tree surgeon. (Woodpecker).
24. Why was the expert in the pretzel factory fired? (He tried to straighten things out).
25. Why is a shoemaker's job unpleasant? (Because of all the low-down heels that he has to work with).
26. Why did the doctor switch jobs? (He lost his (patience) patients).
27. This man is always wiring for money. Who is he? (An electrician).
28. What do you call an undertaker in the South? (A Southern planter).
29. Why did the pretty school teacher marry the janitor? (Because he swept her off her feet).
30. What is the first thing the President does every day? (He wakes up).
31. Which one of our Presidents had the largest shoes? (The president with the largest feet).
32. What is the best name for the wife of a lawyer? (Sue).
33. What is the best name for the wife of a gambler? (Bette).
34. A farmer combined 2 compost heaps with 3 others. How many compost heaps does he have? (one)
35. Who succeeded the first Prime Minister of Australia? (the second)
36. A blue man lives in a blue house. A green man lives in a green house. Who lives in a white house? (The President).
37. How do you know when a motorcycle policeman is happy? 
    ( He has bugs on his teeth!)
38. Why did the student take a ladder to school? 
    (Because he/she was going to high school!)
39. What's the difference between a TEACHER and a CONDUCTOR? (A teacher TRAINS the MIND and a conductor MINDS the TRAIN)
40. Why are baseball stadiums so cool? (There is a fan in every seat).
41. Where does a boxer who weighs 135 kilograms sit on a bus? (Wherever he wants to)
42. Who gets the sack every time he goes to work?  (the postman)
43. What’s the definition of an archaeologist?  (a man whose career is in ruins)
44. What match can’t be put in a match-box?  (a football match)
45. What star is never seen in the sky?  (a film star)
46. When is a doctor most annoyed? (When he is out of «patients»)

 

 

Английские загадки о частях тела.

1. What do people make that nobody can ever see? (Noise).
2. Why should dieters avoid the letter C? (Because it makes fat a fact).
3. What has a neck, but no head? (A bottle).
4. What do seven days of dieting do? (They make one weak (week)).
5. What is the best way to lose weight? (Learn to play the piano, and you can pound away all you want).
6. Why is a person with a bad cold built backwards? (Because their nose runs and their feet smell).
7. What game do you play if you don't take care of your teeth? (Tooth (truth) or Consequences).
8. What can be measured, but has no length, width or height? (The temperature).
9. What has one foot on each side and one in the middle? (A yardstick).
10. I am the red tongue of the Earth, that buries cities (Lava from a volcano).
11. What has 4 legs and only 1 foot? (A bed).
12. What herb cures all ills? (Thyme).
13. Two brothers live across a path, but never see each other  (Eyes.)
14. A thick forest which grows as fast as it is cut down  (Hair.)
15. It lives alone between two bright stars (A nose.)   
16. Between two little moons I am quite alone.  (A nose).
17. Two mothers have five sons each, and all have the same name. What are they?  (Finger sandhands.)
18. Riddle me, riddle me, what is that, over the head and under the hat? (hair)
19. The doors are open in the morning but shut at night. If you look into them, you’ll see yourself inside. (eyes)
20. There’s a question which we cannot answer with «no». what question is it? (do you hear?)
21. Thirty white horses

                    Upon a red hill,

                    Now they stamp,

                    Now they champ,

                    Now they stand still (teeth)

22. I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I? (A nose.)  
23. I'm light as a feather, yet the strongest man can't hold me for much more than a minute. What am I? (Breath).
24. Why shouldn't you write on an empty stomach? (Because it's better to write on paper).
25. If you break me, I do not stop working. If you touch me, I may be snared. If you lose me, nothing will matter. What am I? (one's heart)
26. If a young boy should lose his knee, where would he go for another? (To a butcher shop where kidneys are sold).
27. Why isn’t your nose twelve inches long? (Because it would then be a foot).

 

Английские загадки о бытовых предметах

1. Why did the clock get sick? (It was run down).
2. I'll keep your hair dry.

Bring me just in case.

I'm long and light to carry.

Don't open me in the house.

I hope you don't need me today (umbrella)

3. What lives on its own substance and dies when it devours itself? (A candle).
4. Why should you always carry a watch when crossing a desert? (Because it has a spring in it).
5. I don’t know

The ABC

But I’m writing

As you can see (a pen)

6. What is it?

It can tell you all the days,

Time to sleep and time to play (the clock)

7. What tables have no legs? (time-tables)
8. I have cities but no houses; forests but no trees; rivers without water; what am I? (a map)
9. What has hands but cannot hold anything? (a clock or a watch)
10. I go at night and all the day, and yet I never go away. (a clock, a watch)
11. These two brothers live not far away; one on the left, on one the right; but they never see each other. (ears)
12. What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?   (a tea pot)
13. He went to the wood and caught it. 

          He sat him down and sought it. 

          Because he could not find it,

          Home with him he brought it. (splinter)

14. What flares up quickly and does some good (A match).
15. I am round like an apple

          Flat as a chip

          I have eyes

          But I can’t see one bit (A button.).

16. I run over fields and woods all day. Under the bed at night I sit not alone. My tongue hangs out, up and to the rear, awaiting to be filled in the morning. What am I? (A shoe)
17. Two bodies I have 

Though both joined in one

The more still I stand

The quicker I run.

What am I? (An hourglass)

18. What gets wetter as it dries? (A towel)
19. What goes up and down the stairs without moving? (a rug)
20. I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I? (a sponge)
21. Shall I tell you a joke about the bed?  (No, it hasn’t been made yet)
22. When does a chair dislike you?  (when it can’t bear you)
23. “Why must a man always wear a watch when he travels in a desert? (Because every watch has a spring)
24. Why do we all go to bed?  (because the bed will not come to us)
25. When should you strike a match? (Only when it becomes violent).
26. If you drop me I'm sure to crack but give me a smile and I'll always smile back (A mirror)

 

Английские загадки о погоде

1. What animal drops from the clouds? (The rein-deer).
2. What never gets any wetter no matter how hard it rains? (The ocean).
3. How do you prevent a summer cold? (Catch it in the winter).
4. How is seasickness like an auction? (One is the effects of a sail and the other is a sale of effects).
5. What can't be burned in fire, nor drowned in water? (Ice).
6. What lives in winter, dies in summer, and grows with its root upward? (An icicle).
7. I am the red tongue of the Earth, that buries cities. (Lava from a volcano).

8. It’s blue by night,

By day it’s white.

It is cold and not dry,

It falls from the sky (Snow).

8. This is the season when fruit is sweet,

This is the season when school-friends meet (Autumn).

9. This is the season when vegetables grow,

I come to the garden and make water flow (Summer).

10. Higher than a house, higher than a tree -

Oh, what can that be? (The sky).

11. I come with cold and snow.

But you like me and know (Winter).

12. What can live on paper, but will die on water? (fire)
13. What goes up when the rain comes down? (umbrella)
14. Which month has 28 days? (they all have 28 days)
15. A little old woman with twelve children: some short, some long, some cold, some warm. What is it? (year)
16. What man cannot live inside the house? (a snow-man)
17. What runs but never walks? (a river)
18. It is a word of five letters. Take away two letters and you have only one left. What is it?  (stone)
19. What is it that has always been and yet is only a month old?(the moon)
20. Two brothers, fair and bright, always running, never meet. (the sun and the moon)
21. When I eat, I live; but when I drink, I die.                   

What am I? (fire)

22. What is without hands and without feet, without neck and head, but can open the door?  (wind)
23. I am purple, yellow, red, and green

The King cannot reach me and neither can the Queen.

I show my colours after the rain

And only when the sun comes out again (A rainbow).

24. Lighter than what

I am made of,

More of me is hidden

Than is seen (Iceberg).

25. What never gets any wetter no matter how hard it rains? (The ocean)

26. What can you catch but not throw? (A cold).

27. At night they come without being fetched, and by day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?( Stars)

28. My thunder comes before the lightning;

My lightning comes before the clouds;

My rain dries all the land it touches.

What am I? (A volcano).

29. Which is faster, heat or cold? ( Heat, because you can catch a cold).

30. In spring you’re glad to see me,

In summer I help you cool,

In autumn I give you food,

In winter I make you warm (an apple-tree).

31. Glittering points that downward thrust, sparkling spears that never rust. What is it? (an icicle)

32. When rain falls, does it ever get up again?  (in dew time)

33. A precious stone, as clear as diamond.  
Seek it out whilst the sun’s near the horizon.  
Though you can walk on water with its power,  
Try to keep it, and it’ll vanish ere an hour (Ice)

34. What comes first and follows after, ends life and kills laughter? (Darkness)

35. I am always hungry, 
I must always be fed, 
The finger I touch, 
Will soon turn red (Fire).

36. Three lives have I. 
Gentle enough to soothe the skin, 
Light enough to caress the sky, 
Hard enough to crack rocks (water)

37. It's red, blue, purple and green, no one can reach it, not even the queen. What is it?  (A rainbow.)

38. An eye in a blue face 
Saw an eye in a green face. 
'That eye is like this eye' 
Said the first eye, 
But in a low, not high place. (The sun shining on daisies)

 

Английские загадки, отражающие культурное наследие.

1. Who was the first nuclear scientist? (Eve because she knew all about the atom (Adam).

2. Who designed Noah's ark? (An ark-itect).

3.Where did Pilgrims land when they arrived in America?(On their feet).

4.What did Frankenstein say when a bolt of lightning hit him? (Thanks, I needed that).

27. Which country makes panama hats? (Ecuador).
28. Head of France (Tete).
29. How long did the Hundred Years War last? (116 years, from 1337 to 1453).
30. What do you call a great dog detective? (Sherlock Bones).
31. Why was Count Dracula glad to help young vampires? (He liked to see new blood in the business).
32. What game do you play if you don't take care of your teeth? (Tooth (truth) or Consequences).
33. Where does Dracula stay when he goes to New York City? (The Vampire State building)
34. Why was Karl Marx buried at Highgate Cemetery in London? (because he was dead)
35. Why is the letter E like London? (Because “E” is the capital of England)
36. Where did King Arthur learn to joust? (In Knight school.).
37. Why was it so hard to find Abe Lincoln in Washington DC? (They were using his Gettysburg Address.)
38. Why was the hearse horse hoarse? (Because of the coffin)
39. Why did Mickey Mouse go to outer space? (To find Pluto).
40. What is the differnce between the capital of Russia and a calf's mother? (One is Moscow; the other is a cow's Ma.)
41. Why couldn't Mozart find his teacher? 
    (Because the teacher was Hayden.(Hint: Hayden - Hidin' - Hiding.)
42. When is the best time to have lunch? (After breakfast!)
43. As I went over London Bridge

I met my sister Jenny

I broke her neck and drank her blood

And left her standing empty (A bottle of gin)

 

Английские загадки, выражающие духовно-ценностные и философские  категории

1. Why are A, E, and U the prettiest vowels? (You cannot have beauty without them).
2. What can't you see that is always before you? (The future).
3. What do you get when you saw a comedian in two? (A half wit).
4. What is everyone in the world doing at the same time? (Growing older).
5. What is always coming but never arrives? (Tomorrow).
6. What walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon, and 3 legs in the evening? (A man - crawls as a baby, then walks on 2 feet, then uses a cane (3 legs) as an old man).
7. Why is the world like a faulty jigsaw? (Because peace is missing).
8. When is it dangerous to play cards? (When the joker is wild!)
9. What was given to you, belongs to you exclusively and yet is used more by your friends than by yourself? (Your name).
10. This you should always keep - no one else wants it (Your temper).
11. What is too much for one, enough for two, but nothing at all for three? (A secret).
12. What increases the more you share it with others? (Joy).
13. What is it that you must keep after giving it to someone else? (Your word).
14. What is broken without being hit or dropped? (A promise).
15. What is the end to which we all like to come? (Dividend).
16. I never was, am always to be,

No one ever saw me, nor ever will

And yet I am the confidence of all

To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball (Tomorrow or the future)

17. What is that you cannot see, but which is always before you? (your future)
18. What time of the day is it which we can spell from front to back and from back to front? (noon)
19. What is it that was tomorrow and will be yesterday? (today)
20. The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it? (A coffin).
21. What did the undertaker die of? (Coughin' (coffin).
22. A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it? (Suicide).
23. You can have me but cannot hold me;

Gain me and quickly lose me.

If treated with care I can be great,

And if betrayed I will break. What am I? (Trust)

24. No sooner spoken than broken. What is it? (silence / a secret)
25. As a whole, I am both safe and secure. Behead me, and I become a place of meeting. Behead me again, and I am the partner of ready. Restore me, and I become the domain of beasts. What am I? (a stable)
26. Why are little boys and girls are so expensive?  (because they are so dear)
27. If a child is spanked by his mother and by his father, who hurts the most? (Probably the child)
28. Until I am measured