Difficulty Hard

Type Language

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TIME

The time has come,
winter is here
and those yellow bears disappear.

The time has past
as man looks back with a sigh
and a tear in his eye.

As time is held
boys cross their legs
but of course the toilet begs

As time marches on
Girls loose their blush
and swap a comb for their brush

As time passes
For those held high
their end is nigh

As time catches up
Everyone is equal
when we get to the final sequel

As time turns
Without it we have flour and water
With it we have breakfast for my daughter

As time revolves
How does one turn water and wine
into something so fine

As time runs out
The more in a minute you try and squeeze
the less you can do with ease.

As time ticks
All the time that has past
man cannot comprehend something so vast.
- Christopher Bryant (29 May 2008)

The answer to the riddle is simply 'no'
- No (23 Aug 2009)

if you take away the 'can you guess the answer' then the answer would be PRESSURE.

Polar bears are white because the pressure at the poles is low, so they have to be able to absorb heat.

Pressure makes you cry if it's too much.

Pressure in your bladder makes you have to pee.

Peer pressure makes girls comb their hair.

Celebrities usually crack under pressure.

Many normal people will shine under pressure.

Pancakes turn brown thanks to pressure generated by the heat.

Champagne will bubble until the pressure of the carbonation has disappeared.

If you squeeze something under pressure, BAM, there it goes.

If you are "looking" at pressure, you're in it. for example-> in an airplane your ears pop under pressure.
- Joe G (2 Mar 2010)

It's pressure
- Katie. (2 Mar 2010)

That poem is a fake made up after the riddle, what a pathetic excuse. The answer is NO. Read the question.
- Lloyd (3 Mar 2010)

i think the asnwer no is a failure answer. and refuse to accept it. i also think that this is a bogus question. i think time is a fail answer and i htink pressure is ... ehhh acceptable but not quite there for me. i hate this riddle but i have a piece of mind for everyone. no its not correct if there was ever a true answer to this .. but IT MAKES SENSE.. answer being ... drugs :) think about it go read the riddle again.. oh im good
- Alex (3 Mar 2010)

the answe is yes. you can guess the riddle it just may not be correct. geeeeeeeeezusssssss
- Debbie (5 Mar 2010)

It asks if you CAN answer the riddle not to guess what it is. so therefore the only answers could be yes or no.... and if i know i cant figure it out my answer is no.
- Brian (7 Mar 2010)

The answer is always Chuck Norris.
- Pandora (9 Mar 2010)

Regarding the suggestion that the answer is "No":

This cannot be, because then you would have answered the riddle and would have to change your answer.
- Stevo (11 Mar 2010)

I agree with time. This is what my son said haha:

the answer is ME

i make polar bears white when I rub my eyes really hard

i will make you cry if i punch you

i make guys have to pee cuz i make them laugh

i make girls comb their hair cuz if they dont i say " HEY! comb your hair!"

i make celebreties look stupid because an average joe like me is way more handsome than any of them

and i make normal people look like celebrities when im with them

i turn pancakes brown cuz i dont know how to make them good

i make your champagne bubble cuz i shake it up before you open it

and if you squeeze me ill pop

and if you look at me ill pop you...right in the face!
- Leigh (11 Mar 2010)

This is a very odd riddle, and I think it was supposed to have "controversial answers". ;)
- Polar bear (11 Mar 2010)

its pressure!

low pressure on the poles makes polar bears hair look white

pressure causes eyes to tear

pressure does something to your bladder to make you pee.

pressure messes up your hair so u need to comb it.

(or something to do with peer pressure)

Celeberities crack under pressure.

Some normal people shine under pressure.

Pressure turns the pancakes brown.

Too much pressure bubbles champagne.

Squeezing something under pressure makes it pop.

if you look at pressure it means ur in it and your ears pop, like on an airplane.

Immo says:
2 weeks ago

How do kindergartners get Pressure? The answer is no. The question is can you get the answer? no.
- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (12 Mar 2010)

@Alex, seriously? drugs? couldn't you come up with something better. How on earth do drugs turn polar bears white and pancakes brown? Think about it go read the riddle again.. oh I'm good.
- H (13 Mar 2010)

its your eyes...a polar bear and pancakes wouldnt be white if you couldnt see...if you squeeze your eyes youll pop...if a girl gives you a bad look you may want to pee...girls realize that their hair looks bad by seeing it with their eyes and so on...
- chris (14 Mar 2010)

How can a poem be fake Loyd so what if it was or was not made after a stupid riddle!
- Bob (15 Mar 2010)

Haha. I laugh. The poem was most likely written after the riddle because it sucks as a poem. I would laugh so hard if this was some psychology/social experiment. They're watching you.....
- Booyah (16 Mar 2010)

time fits for me, cuz oterwise kindergardeners wouldnt get it xD its one of the few words they grasp at the >time<, so it fits! thats only my opinion tho... cuz it does fit the answers.
- Ryan (16 Mar 2010)

To make this short and sweet, if you take into consideration the statement before the riddle (97% Harvard Grads got it wrong but 87% Kindergarten kids got it right - seen on different sites but not this one) then the answer is "NO".

People are saying, "That is a pretty unsatisfactory answer if you ask me!" and then they try to validate what they believe it can be with elaborate examples... "Time", "Pressure" etc, and that's where the problem begins. We as adults and the Harvard students would try hard to figure out the problem and analyse each others responses. But what we really have to remember is the 5 year olds are supposedly giving the right answer.

Do you think a 5 year old knows, as some say, "Celebrities usually crack under pressure", or "Polar bears are white because the pressure at the poles is low, so they have to be able to absorb heat." or "Champagne will bubble until the pressure of the carbonation has disappeared"? These explanations are not something a kindergarten student would know. But everyone gets caught up in the hype of trying to solve the riddle using their knowledge that they forget the kindergarten kids don't have that knowledge yet.

In fact, a lot of kids that young may have a short attention span so to think about so many different possibilities is usually out of the question for them so they simply only focus on the last line "Can you guess the riddle?" and say..ummm no.

All the time and pressure answers are great but too detailed. As one person mentioned, their "kid" responded that you'd cry because they punched you or that guys pee because I make them laugh (NOT because of pressure on your bladder - kids probably don't even know what a bladder is) This child's responses are way off our adults explanations. And thus the reason why so many adults get it wrong.

So the riddle stumps most people because it focuses on the fact you will think like an adult NOT a kid.
- Tree DeLeskie (17 Mar 2010)

The only answer that fits in is "YES" because by saying that you have answered it. By saying no you contradicted yourself by answering the riddle while saying that you can't answer it.
- Artem (18 Mar 2010)

Lol... it says "can you GUESS the riddle?". No. A riddle is not something you can guess. Especially because you cannot guess something you already know. I really do not understand why it's so hard for people to get it. Also: that poem is a joke-- "when we get to the final sequel" LOL. As much as I sincerely doubt this is a Harvard study, I really hope that it is. I'm sure they would get a kick out of these comments.
- *sigh* (19 Mar 2010)

The answer is def. "No" The question is "Can you guess the riddle?" Not what is the answer to all those statements? If the answer was "Pressure", then how is "Pressure" a riddle.
Seriously?
- Pauline (20 Mar 2010)

guys its pressure !!!!!!!!!pressure is the best answer 4 this riddle !!! not time
- (20 Mar 2010)

IT'S IMAGIGINATION!
- ME!!!! (7 Apr 2010)

Ooh my god....the answer is and always has been NO, every second that you idiots spend overthinking this youre just making yourselves look stupid....
- Rob (25 Apr 2010)

rubbish riddle.......The Answer is Adolf Hitler...
- Ramzee (27 Apr 2010)

the true answer, is god.
it is only he who's icy breath can stain white a polar bear's fur.
it is only he who can rob you of such joy as to make you cry.
it is only he who hugs young boys so tightly they make pee.
it is only he who had wished for a son, giving girls low esteem.
it is only he who jealously acts out against false idols.
it is only he who grants such beauty to fools without knowledge to use it.
it is only he who like pancakes well done.
it is only he whose success deserves to pop open the bubbly.
it is only he who pops under pressure.
it is only he who may destroy you if you've seen him.

- his follower (27 Apr 2010)

The answer is nothing.

Nothing links all of these situations together.

Polar bears are white because it was evolutionary advantageous for them, genetics made them white, not time or pressure. And for those who say that evolutionary trends take time... true... but they aren't caused by time.

Pancakes turn brown because a chemical process call the "Maillard reaction" that causes carmelization. It's a reaction between amino acids and sugars requiring heat... not time or pressure.

How does a normal person "look like a celebrity?" Well, if they look like a celebrity they were probably either born that way or had an operation. Neither time nor pressure causes someone to look like someone/something else. It's either coincidence or surgery.

Champagne is bubbly because the second fermentation process produce carbon dioxide gas in the bottled wine. Time makes more time to make bubbles, but it doesn't make the bubbles themselves. Pressure can make bubbles, but that's exactly the difference between champagne and sparkling wine... champagne must be made the traditional way to be called "champagne," with grapes grown in the Champagne region of France no less.

You can't squeeze time, nor look at pressure. No matter how figuratively you want to try to make it... there is not a single connection to all of those statements. The answer - nothing.

This is why kids get the answer that adults have a hard time coming up with. We fear looking foolish by challenging the fact that someone says there is an answer, when really there is not.

And the last line really should be "what am I." That would have cleared up the whole yes/no thing.
- JS (29 Apr 2010)

It is definitely not "No". If "No" is the correct answer then yes you can answer it making "No" incorrect.
- JoshQuatch (5 May 2010)

(found this on Yahoo Answers)
According to wikipedia.com "The individual hairs are transparent and unpigmented (like a single water drop in a cloud). The fur appears white rather than transparent for the same reasons as clouds, water foam, and cotton (reflection and dispersion of visible light). The fur absorbs ultraviolet light. The coat does however insulate the bears to the point where they overheat at temperatures above 10C (50F) and are nearly invisible in the infrared; only their breath and muzzles can be seen [9]."

when most people look at the sun it hurts their eyes because of the ultraviolet light. "High intensities of UVB light are hazardous to the eyes." that is why your eyes water after looking at the sun for extended periods of time.

as for guys peeing when most people get warm they have to pee and girls combing their hair, most people go out more when its sunny and they want to look good.

celebrities looking stupid could be them being over sunned because they already tan themselves. but normal people lot like celebrities because they can't afford to take the tan over board.

pancakes turn brown because the flour and eggs in them turn brown as heat is added.

champagne pops because when warm carbon dioxide is in a pressurized gaseous form and that pressure pushes on the cork causing it to pop.

when heat is squeezed (like when you cook something in tupperware with out opening the container) it pops because the molecules move faster, boucing off each other and heat creates pressure that makes things pop open.

if you star into the sun too long the heat and the ultraviolet rays of the sun will damage your eyes and can cause them to "pop" blood vessels.

- Gabriela (8 Jun 2010)

The answer is yes cuz yes u can guess the answer which is no becasue all of those items r caused differently
- FLAM31NG (3 Aug 2011)

It's simple. It is Nature.

- Nivek Dust (17 Sep 2011)

you say the answer is ''no'' or ''I can't''
saying no or i can't is saying the answer
- Revengex (6 Jan 2012)

the answer is ''NO''...I think if the question was ''who am I?'' It will bea good riddle....how can ''pressure'' or ''time'' be the answer to ''can you guess the answer?''.....if it asks can you guess the answer then where is the question?????
- Revengex (22 Jan 2012)

I turn polar bears white = WATER / WATER WHEN IT IS FROZEN ON HAIR WILL TAKE THE PIGMENT OUT !! and I will make you cry. I make guys have to pee and girls comb their hair. = WATER /MAKES YOU PEE & MAKES GIRLS HAIR CURLY I make celebrities look stupid and normal people look like celebrities. = WATER / WE ALL LOOK THE SAME WHEN WERE WET - NO MAKE-UP I turn pancakes brown and make your champane bubble. = WATER / HOT WATER MAKES PANCAKES BROWN AND CHAMPANE BUBBLE If you sqeeze me, I'll pop. If you look at me, you'll pop. = WATER /WATER BALLON Can you guess the riddle? SO WATER IS THE ANSWER
- guest (23 Apr 2013)

I thought that in order to qualify as a riddle, there must be a solution. If the so called answer is no, that implies a lack of a solution. This prose is a test to see how fast dummies give up, and long smartarses will argue.
- Dirk Bronson (28 Jun 2013)

The answer is, CHUCK NORRIS.
Chuck Norris turns polar bears into white.
Chuck Norris can make you cry.
Chuck Norris can make you pee.
Chuck Norris can make you comb your hair.
Chuck Norris can make celebrities stupid by knocking the hell outta them.
Chuck Norris can make normal people into celebrities.
Chuck Norris can make pancakes brown.
Chuck Norris can make my champagne bubble.
If you squeeze Chuck Norris, he'll pop.
If you look at Chuck Norris, you'll pop.
THE ANSWER IN THE RIDDLE IS CHUCK NORRIS! :D
- (21 Aug 2013)

I guess the answer is WATER.
- Khaled (28 Oct 2013)

My response is "Yes. I can guess the riddle. Whether my guess is correct or not is another matter".
- id36 (11 Jan 2014)

pressure

- el (13 Mar 2014)

That's mean.. I spent like 10 minutes trying to figure it out..
- (30 Apr 2014)

The Answer is Snow.
- Roop (24 Feb 2017)

is is your eyes?
- joe (20 Sep 2017)