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How is a raven like a writing desk?
I recently picked up Alice in Wonderland, and came across the question "How is a raven like a writing desk?" asked by the Mad Hatter.
It said in the footnotes that there was no answer they could find, but a man had made one up saying that "A raven and a writing desk are alike because they can both make notes, usually very flat."
I remember hearing once that there was another answer, having something to do with Edgar Allen Poe, does anyone happen to know what it is?
It said in the footnotes that there was no answer they could find, but a man had made one up saying that "A raven and a writing desk are alike because they can both make notes, usually very flat."
I remember hearing once that there was another answer, having something to do with Edgar Allen Poe, does anyone happen to know what it is?
2 Answers
"From Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Chapter 7 "A Mad Tea Party", the Mad Hatter asks Alice, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk"?
Many answers have been given for this riddle from many people. Carroll himself, though, supplied one in a new preface of his 1896 edition of "Alice." He said "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note the spelling of "never" as "nevAr." Carroll clearly intended to spell "raven" backwards. The word was corrected to "never" in later printings, perhaps by an editor who fancied he had caught a printer's error. Because Carroll died soon after this "correction" destroyed the cleverness of his answer, the original spelling was never restored."
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