Refresh Your Greek to Solve a Puzzle
I invented this puzzle. It’s a variation of something I saw on Facebook.
Puzzle. The future dinner of an anthropophagusphagusphagus met for dinner the past study object of an anthropophaguslogist. What’s for dinner?
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Carl Feynman:
A cannibal. I noted during my SAT prep that anthropophagous is to cannibalistic as autochthonous is to indigenous.
18 March 2023, 12:22 pmAndrew:
Greek, not Latin:)
18 March 2023, 12:58 pmtanyakh:
Oops. Thanks Andrew, I changed it.
18 March 2023, 1:39 pmIvan:
What’s for dinner? The meat of the meetee. Who will (m)eat it? The meeter.
18 March 2023, 2:27 pmGeorge R.:
I am Greek. Anthropophagus means “the man who eats men” Ανθρωποφάγος from άνθρωπος(=man/human) + φάγος (fagos) (=ending for “to eat”)
25 March 2023, 1:17 amSo, an anthropophagusphagus is someone who eats the man-eater namely someone who eats the cannibal. Thus an anthropophagusphagusphagus is someone who eats the cannibal-eater. So his future dinner is a cannibal-eater. So , a cannibal-eater met for dinner a cannibal ( who is the object of study of an anthropophaguslogist (someone who studies anthropophaguses =cannibals)
So indeed the dinner is the cannibal himself.
What confuses me a little is the term “past” study object… why is “past” necessary? Just to show that the cannibal is dead , and thus an “easy” meal? 😊
tanyakh:
Goerge, your are right. “Past” is not necessary. It just balances out the word “future”.
25 March 2023, 4:06 pmGeorge R.:
Well Tanya, after all maybe “past” is indeed necessary ( in order to have a unique answer: Cannibal)
26 March 2023, 12:29 amOtherwise two cannibals meet for dinner. An antrhopophagusphagus^n is also a cannibal after all!
So ,if 2 cannibals meet for dinner we could assume multiple “solutions” for what’s for dinner! 🙂
“Nothing”, or “the weakest cannibal”, or maybe something else (?)