| the word game of riddle
guessing. Most people often think that answers to lantern riddles
are difficult to be guessed because forms of riddles are complicated
and hard to understand, thus reluctant to make an attempt. In
fact, clues to naturally formed meaningful riddles are difficult
to be traced
1. Grammatical:
This type riddle form is designed based on the characteristics
of the Chinese grammar, which does not rigorously prescribe the
order rules. The orders of the subject, guest term and verb may
be freely changed and each carries a different meaning. For example,
the phrase ˇ§it is difficult to be a manˇ¨ regardless whether the
expressions are changed to ˇ§ man is difficult to beˇ¨ or ˇ§be a
man is difficultˇ¨, the grammar is not violated even the meaning
is changed. Hence, for this type of form of the riddle, primarily
the order of words that make up the phrase is changed. There are
several types described below:
ˇirolling curtainˇjˇXˇXThe answer to the riddle comprises of more
than three words. Read answer of the riddle from bottom to top
as if rolling up the curtain, hence named the ˇ§rolled curtainˇ¨
form.
ˇiegˇjGreen eye lad led Chiang Tong Certificate of title (Green
eye lad refers to Suan Chuan, based on the form, the answer of
the riddle is read as ˇ§Chung Chuan has somethingˇ¨ ˘w˘wdescribing
that Suan Chuan has got the land of Chiang Tong)
ˇigoing upstairsˇjˇXˇXThe answer to the riddle comprises of more than
three words. Move the last character to the first, as if going
upstairs, hence named the ˇ§going upstairsˇ¨ form.
ˇiegˇjhost the bottle-throwing ceremony going-down-the-water boat
(according to the form, it is read as ˇ§boat going down the waterˇ¨
, throwing the bottle represents the going-down-water ceremony
for new boats)
ˇigoing downstairsˇjˇXˇXThe answer to the riddle comprises of more
than three words. Move the first character to the last, as if
going downstairs, hence named the ˇ§going downstairsˇ¨ form.
ˇiegˇjdraw a tiger is difficult, it is difficult to draw a tiger
the behavioral style is not good (wind refers to tiger, read as
ˇ§wind is not easy to beˇ¨ based on the form)
2. Increase/Reduce Type:
This type of riddle form is to increase or delete the characters
of the answer to the riddle based on the meaning of the questions.
Basically, this type of form utilizes the human body as the metaphor;
from head to toe in the order of hat, tie, belt, socks and boots,
which are quite easy to remember. The followings are commonly
used:
ˇiHat RaisingˇjˇXˇXDelete the first character of the answer to the
riddle as if removing the hat, hence named the ˇ§Hat Raisingˇ¨ format.
ˇiegˇjThe road is full of hundreds and thousands of holes ¤Ň road
not being repaired (delete the first character ˇ§¤Ňˇ¨ based on the
form)
ˇiBoots RemovalˇjˇXˇXDelete the last character of the answer to the
riddle as if removing the boots, hence named the ˇ§boots removalˇ¨
formˇ¨
ˇiegˇj Where is the beauty found in loversˇ¦ eyes ˛\ (remove the last
character ˇ§˛\ˇ¨ based on the form)
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