Braingle: 'Growing Down' Brain Teaser

Growing Down

Trick brain teasers appear difficult at first, but they have a trick that makes them really easy.

Puzzle ID:	#22329
Fun:	(2.88)
Difficulty:	(2.08)
Category:	Trick
Submitted By:	deadeye823

What grows down while it grows up?

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Comments

Master_Yoda Apr 18, 2005	Well not everyone knows that geese grow downs when they get older.
irishthistle Apr 18, 2005	Down is different from a feather. it is an undercoating of soft puffiness grown for warmth by geese ducks and other water birds, so the answer could also be any waterfowl.
cnmne Apr 18, 2005	Or a stalactite, which grows down from a cave ceiling as it gets older.
garrgor Apr 18, 2005	The Weeping Willow Tree would also work here.
verve640 Apr 18, 2005	Any plant that has roots growing down into the earth will also work.
darthforman Apr 19, 2005	Yea, any plant does that. ??? I heard better in kindergarten.
smurfy Apr 19, 2005	Great-grand parents grow down by shrinking, when they get older too!
phildunphy Apr 20, 2005	I like smurfy's answer
deadeye823 Apr 20, 2005	good answer smurfy, but don't great-grand parents settle, rather than "grow down"?
dapperDave Apr 22, 2005	dumb...sorta
Mysterious Apr 23, 2005	Good effort. This teaser needs a little more info. to rule out other possible answers. There are many correct answers as it is written. A really good teaser needs to have only one answer. Keep trying.
michelle192837 Apr 23, 2005	Smartly and inventive and creative and factful and smoogleburp (it's pretty hard to spell smoogleburp, you know)
IMCUL4E Apr 24, 2005	see, i agree with smurfy. i thought old people, too. (p.s.-love the name smurfy! )
IMCUL4E Apr 24, 2005	i hate my name. made it like 3 yrs ago.
timilee Apr 24, 2005	i agree with Mysterious, if no one can get the teaser because of all the possible answers that will work, then it is not presented well. i do understand the answer, and it is funny, and all of that, but there are soooo many other things that could work as the answer, that the clues need to narrow it 'down' to one answer. as some have said, 98% of all forms of vegetation do this. 98% of all architecture does this (in construction you dig 'down' into the Earth, the taller the building the deeper the footing) 98% of long hair does this 100% of life expectancy does this... In this way, it is not about getting the right answer, but not getting all of the incorrect possible answers. Like: What's black and white and red all over? You could say 'a newspaper....' but then i could say..'no, a penguin with a sun burn' or...'no a chess board painted red' or 'Michael Jackson blushing' Michael Jackson would actually work for the answer of THIS teaser, too!!! The age of his partners get younger, while he grows older. The size of his nose gets smaller, as his hair grows longer. The amount of respect for him gets smaller, as his popularity still grows bigger. i could go on and on with these examples..but there are young members viewing these comments.
brain_dead Apr 24, 2005	you taught me something i didn't know
VAISHU Apr 25, 2005	nice but EZEE
IMCUL4E Apr 28, 2005	go timilee!
dapperDave Apr 28, 2005	pretty good try, but I agree with all the constructive criticism mentioned. Regarding M.J., isn't he innocent until proven guilty? Wait, that can't be right...look at OJ, guilty though proven innocent!
kcelf27 Apr 29, 2005	Liked it, but if you have a few other clues like... can be seen high in the air or down on the ground OR Gains popularity durring the holidays Might make it easier (not that it was hard) but will weed out wrong answers
tasty4u Apr 30, 2005	good one, a few answers would have worked...like: hair....but only the right answer will work
deadeye823 Apr 30, 2005	thanks everybody for the constructive criticism
libra0890 May 01, 2005	wow kind of like my riddle...what gets wet as it dries??? lol thets pretty easy tho libra0890
deadeye823 May 01, 2005	a towel right?
Doris May 02, 2005	1. @.
libra0890 May 03, 2005	deadeye823...YES!!! UR RIGHT!! CONGRADULATIONS!! lol libra0890
deadeye823 May 03, 2005	thank you, thank you takes a bow
libra0890 May 04, 2005	lol that was so great libra0890
tdg_chick May 05, 2005	I didn't know that!!
deadeye823 May 05, 2005	now you do
libra0890 May 05, 2005	lol r u guys talking about my joke? libra0890
deadeye823 May 05, 2005	what joke? the towel one?
xsadclowneyezx May 06, 2005	UMMMMMM, POtatoes?
sweetime May 17, 2005	I loved the answer! Very clever!!
deadeye823 May 18, 2005	thanks sweetime
sniperkid990 May 23, 2005	there are wayyyyyyy too many possable answers for this
MBBZN May 30, 2005	Yes, there could be many answers to this with out added info. I was thinking of a tree. Good Effort though.
Isabella2204 May 30, 2005	LOL great answer smurfy
drussel3 May 31, 2005	Plants should be the answer, roots...
gummbypal Jun 17, 2005	I have never heard the term 'growing down' used by anyone refering to plants. Taking root is more likely. Nothing can really grow down, it doesn't make sense. I liked your riddle deadeye and the hint leads right to the point - it only reads correctly using the bird related definition of down. You get it or you don't and don't overthink, you quit and move on.
deadeye823 Jun 18, 2005	Thanks gummy, thats what I've been thinking as i read most of these comments...although i didn't say it...
AmyJo0206 Jun 26, 2005	i people (like old people shrink and stuff) or a weeping willow.
mgil93 Jun 26, 2005	I thought it was a carrot
mejoza Aug 10, 2005	I guessed it without the hint, so it must be very clear! Cute.
deadeye823 Aug 10, 2005	Thanks
rkaaland Dec 10, 2005	I had carrot but Goose fits better!
princess0611 Apr 06, 2006	I thought of either a tree or a plant of some kind, but goose definitely works well here, considering it's a trick catagory.
Psychic_Master Apr 29, 2006	I thought it was stalactites. It needed much more information to rule out the other possibilities. Nice try, though.
akl21 Aug 04, 2006	I was thinking plants...the tops were growing "up" and the roots were growing "down".
Lady_Lani Jan 04, 2007	I was thinking "humans." But then again, many living things "grow down" as they "grow up." Thanks for getting my brain working, anyway.
marie7771 Jul 27, 2008	Plants can grow down too.
javaguru Feb 26, 2009	I had stalactites and icicles.
teri12265 Feb 26, 2009	I like the play on words. Using a homonym was great. I thought 'life expectancy' but that would be more 'grows short' not 'down'. Great teaser! Have a fabulous day!
lexleblanc Feb 26, 2009	This would have done better as joke/punch line rather than brain teaser
tommysmo Feb 26, 2009	i said carrots or any other root vegetable!
doehead Feb 26, 2009	The worst this year.
rac76 Feb 26, 2009	I thought the same thing about a carrot. At least the carrot is growing up and down at the same time. This teaser wasn't that interesting.
bradon182001 Feb 26, 2009	I was thinking potatoes, but carrots would be the same. Never thought about geese. Thanks for posting.
saleprice Feb 26, 2009	Yay I got it right away!! Great start to my day thx.....good teaser....& one can never please doehead so ignore him lol
FatHead Feb 26, 2009	Admittedly, I could be better, but it was pretty good!
UptheHill Feb 26, 2009	Two words, NI CE!!!
darthpotterbob Feb 26, 2009	personally i thought of roots and hanging tomatoes......
avonma Feb 26, 2009	I was thinking banyan trees - don't their branches grow down into the ground? AGAIN, I failed to notice that it was a TRICK question! Good quiz, though, with room for lots of answers!
BrainyWitch94 Feb 26, 2009	Carrots.....
here2 Feb 26, 2009	Admittedly, root plants kind of answer the riddle, but the point is a trick riddle. Did the goose answer serve to bring a little joy into our lives. It worked for me. I liked it. I didn't guess the answer, but i liked it. I certainly liked it much more than another riddle where someone is named "nobody". I feel that the riddle worked. Nice job!
Ginmill13 Feb 26, 2009	Down are the small feathers that grow between the larger feathers of most birds not just geese. Feathers continue to grow during the lifetime of a bird much like our hair does.
Ginmill13 Feb 26, 2009	Sorry Irish I didn't see your post until after mine.
kwelchans Feb 26, 2009	I was thinking a mustache or a beard.
Montie317 Feb 26, 2009	I disagree with the others, the hint was good and got you to the one true answer. (before the hint i was thinking iceberg) Good Teaser!!
auntiesis Feb 26, 2009	I also thought of vegetables, beets, radishes, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, etc.,etc.,etc.
sapphireduck Feb 26, 2009	I think a tree would also count.
kp52 Feb 26, 2009	To many possibilities, it needed to be written better.
(user deleted) Feb 26, 2009	Here's a simple way to improve it: I go from place to place, you've seen me around. And as I grow up, I also grow down. It doesn't apply to vegetation because they don't really go anywhere. Also not stalagmites because they don't grow up.
braingle100 Nov 28, 2010	I was going to comment, but I forgot what I was gonna say while I was reading all the other comments
Gwendalla Apr 19, 2011	At first I thought it was carrots . So, try and be a tad more specific for us. Have a lovely day! -Gwen
Babe Feb 26, 2012	No one said growing down was a term. It is just what root vegetables do. Goose is a cute answer, but like so many have said,"there are lots of answers to this one."
gaylewolf Feb 26, 2012	Very cute! I like this one!
cutebug Feb 26, 2012	Hundreds of answers. Sorry,but this was poorly thought out before being published.
wordmama Feb 26, 2012	I had thought trees at first, but that was too obvious an answer. Unable to think 'outside the box' on my own, geese (or ducks) was a much better answer. (And yes, I know that's a dangling modifier, but tough nuggies; it's BC, before coffee!).
MajorAlan Feb 26, 2012	Actually, duck was my first thought. It's the old poser I heard in grade school: How do you get down from an elephant? Ans: You don't, you get down from a duck. I guess it pays to be an old country boy at times.
eamon Feb 26, 2012	A BEARD; a carrot or many tubers; almost any hanging fruit and so on.
katamaster Feb 27, 2012	What about a tree whose roots grow while the tree grows up.