Brain Teasers
What is Unusual About this Paragraph?
How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour.
Answer
The letter `e` , which is the most used letter in the alphabet, is missing from this paragraph.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
No way you thought of that on your own.
I have got that riddle as well.
Fun teaser! And why is Mogmatt so uptight? Mog, my friend, take a vacation to a peaceful place.
oops i accidently sent in a teaser like this one though mine has different wording. P.S. I was looking for my riddle and see if it got submitted when i saw som1 else had it
that was cool, i never would of geussed the "e" was missing
I enjoyed this one, fun, and ita a bit hard as well. Great Teaser!!!
Kind of like a book I know of. Over 15 000, or was it 50 000 words without the letter e.
what a good tasr. vry nic...grat
Awesome
I love this teaser, it's very fun. Glad I could see it again ^_^
Thats awesome!
from the comments I've read so far. 1/2 hour? I got it on the first read through! Keep them coming though, I don't see enough of these.
THIS WAS SO EASY!!! RIGHT OFF eye NOTICED NOT ONE "e" WAS IN THIS UNUSUAL PARAGRAPH . I TRULY ENJOYED THIS ONE. NICE "PHYLISS", GREAT JOB
Saw it. The first day I saw this conundrum I got it on my first try. It was nt hard to find that it didnt contain that particular digit. Good work though. Fun stuff!! Good-day!!
Nov 25, 2005
Excellent teaser - really had to think!
Mog was right though...this teaser coms right out of some book, quite literally.
Very good - this type of composition is known as a lipogram.
Spotted it in about 5 minutes, because I was looking for the word 'where'...don't ask.
Have seen similar before, but not so long as this one
Very good teaser but wow, thats got to be my quickest solution ever. Took just less than 2 seconds according to my watch. However, i guess it does not count when you have seen the teaser elsewhere on television. Nevertheless, it is good to see it here on braingle.
i don't care wat other people think. i thought that was really cool.
i would have never guessed.
good job!!!!!
i would have never guessed.
good job!!!!!
I've seen this one before a long time ago in a Reader's Digest magazine. Shortly thereafter, it started getting circulated around in email forwards, so I was able to get it right away. However, the first time I ever saw this one, I couldn't get the answer, so in all, I think this was a really good teaser.
Great teaser.
You know, I looked at that paragraph for like 5 minutes, and I finally realized that it wasn't indented. Still wrong! Ah!
Closer to 10 seconds, but a fun riddle. never saw it before.
Got it right away. Have seen it many times over.
I would have never guessed! Very clever! I guess I need to pay more attention!
That's pretty cool how you can write an entire paragraph without an e. I thought it would be that the paragraph was not indented. But that comes from a grammer freak, so ya. Good job anyway.
I was on a completely different track.... looking for meanings behind key words. and trying to make sense of them!!!
Egads!! .... and I call myself an ENGLISH major??!!!!
Egads!! .... and I call myself an ENGLISH major??!!!!
there is no e missing from the paragraph and u i copy and paste it on to microsoft words and did spelling check and it didn't correct and e and i know that for a fact cuase you can check it for yourself
Two thumbs up!
didnt get it oh well good teaser
A very, very old one.
mmoffia, please tell us you were kidding. if not, that might be the funniest comment i've ever seen on this site.
I have to agree, GMoney. That is hilarious, whether he is kidding or not.
Easy. But the first thing i noticed was that it was not indented. (Not that i'm shure that matters on the computer.)
dat was hard..still dont get it but w/e
I didn't get it... I thought that it was that it wasn't indented....I didn't even think about looking at the letters!
man that was pretty clever!!!
Think about it, Lycanthrope! It has to take a half hour because there is an e in "second" and "minute" and "quarter" so it's the shortest expression for a length of time without an "e". No, it's the only expression for a short length of time....... If you see what I mean. I've got a bit garbled! I sometimes wish I'd never started!!!!!!!
Anyway, great teaser. Got it quick, but I suspect I've seen it somewhere before. I'm not usually that bright!
Anyway, great teaser. Got it quick, but I suspect I've seen it somewhere before. I'm not usually that bright!
P.S. Do people still indent paragraphs?
wow, i actually feel smart! i got it!!!
maybe it's because i've seen this one before. lol
maybe it's because i've seen this one before. lol
This came straight from mind trap, but even the first time i saw it, i got it right away.
good one though.
good one though.
that was Ez
It's pretty lame when most of the comments are people saying they got it but that they had seen it before. So much for originality. Sorry, but I thought it was boring.
I liked it...I have seen it before and still did not get it As for the people who are so negative, get over it....Great job
good job, it is unusual
Question Mark, i know what book your thinking about, it was french wasnt it?
Great one. never would've got it.
Good one!! This was fun! I guessed the answer was the word "the" isn't used...I was close, but wrong!! lol
Did not get it... Great teaser!!
I love it!! Very Challenging. Whoever came up with this must have been doing some hard thinking.
how does every1 get these teasers or riddles so fast? i can never get them rite while ever1 else is like "Oh That Was So Easy!"
GRRRR! lol
it was a good 1 tho!
GRRRR! lol
it was a good 1 tho!
boring, boring! Most people wont get it,,justs like i didnt.
this was a very good teaser bt it was kind of easy
I didn't even come close....but that's just because I'm stupid. Oh well.
That was really entertaining! Got it right away, but, arent paragraphs supposed to be indented? Just a thought. that was great.
WELL DONE Spent 20 minutes and then gave up
i've heard this one like a million times before, no joke
i thought it was that there was no indent
but it was still good
but it was still good
That's a good teaser, I didn't get it. I'm new so from what I've read here I assume all teasers are supposed to be original? I noticed the "no indent" thing, but with word processing the indent has been left behind, it's not used much even on business letters done on PC. I thought maybe it was that there were no contractions! But, maybe that's not so unusual. Never would've got it I don't think!
the letter "e" i didnt think it was possible but now i know it is. ggo 1
dang... thas hard@#!
it was so easy
Nov 25, 2005
man that is a good one i didn't get it right off and my mom didn't get it right off . keep these comming .i enjoy them
i feel dumb i didnt get it.
Never knew this one but figured it out after abuot 1 minute, Cute one though
hey shawneeo--that is a good point about no contractions. i like that!
A paragraph without an indent is perfectly acceptable. It is part of a "writing style" often used in business letters!!
Thanks rubber!
Isn't there also a double negative? I thought you couldn't use 'nothing" twice in one sentence.
This is actually from the game MindTrap, but that's ok! I thought about submitting it myself so obviously I got it right away cuz I knew the answer but when i first saw it it stumped me big-time. good one
the question was worded wrong! it should've asked... what is DIFFERENT or UNUSUAL about this paragraph? technically, there is nothing WRONG with it.
That waz cool keep sending these in!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HVkenny is right!!!!!!!
i would've never gotten that!
Very Clever
THIS IS SOOOO GOOD! Definetley my favorite briangle. YAY FOR PHYLLIS!
Never would have gotten that in a million years.
Got it quick, so I feel good, and I never saw this before!
Hmmm,
Uh, hvkenny? If it had used the word "different," there would be e's in the paragraph, and the answer would be invalid... never mind the fact that it doesn't say at all that anything is wrong with the paragraph, only that one would think nothing is "wrong" with it.
And more importantly than no e's, did anyone else notice that it has no j's, v's, x's or z's?!?!?! Oh, the horror...
Of course, adding the words "just," "vast," "maximum" and "zany" in there would take care of those letters. Then you could reword the answer to say that "the paragraph uses every letter in the alphabet except the most common one..."
And more importantly than no e's, did anyone else notice that it has no j's, v's, x's or z's?!?!?! Oh, the horror...
Of course, adding the words "just," "vast," "maximum" and "zany" in there would take care of those letters. Then you could reword the answer to say that "the paragraph uses every letter in the alphabet except the most common one..."
The first time I saw this one was about 40 years ago. My Grandma's neighbor gave me a copy to share with my Dad - he loved teasers. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
So what if it's been around - there are always new people to share things with. I was impressed I could pull the answer from my memory - so I loved it.
So what if it's been around - there are always new people to share things with. I was impressed I could pull the answer from my memory - so I loved it.
Like I seriously thought about going throught the alphabet!!! I thought it was 'cause it wasn't INDENTED!!!!!!!!!
I got it quickly because I've seen it before. It's still a very good one though!
I've seen it be4 cuz itz and old jok but I got par because I noticed it 1/2 through the paragraph the firs time! Cool tho. I like these. Keep up the good work.
NICE TEASER. I think that could be in the trick section though
wow that was a good one i didnt even get it i had to look at the answer lol did u com up with that yourself?? that was a good one!!
you stole that one from the one website, i saw it there you steeler
I got that one immdediately....but I'm an English Major and an aspiring author....anything of this sorts I key into....
Fun as all get up though..thanks!!
Fun as all get up though..thanks!!
awsome ur like the best teaser maker ever can u help me rate my teasers k there a hard contest and a interesting book k thx!
seen it before
probally the first teaser Ive ever seen. I saw this in second grade, took me forever, but I finally did it! whoo me!
wow.this is awesome lol I would've never figured it out on my own....
Way to mak m fl dumb. Hr is anothr paragraph without that lttr. Wow it is usd a lot! U wr right. Hlp I don`t undrstand what I`m saying anymor!
How much did U get in ur Eng, lang. paper recently, Phyllis. U gotta get great marks.
nicely done... i've heard of it before... and i also have heard of this one paragraph that uses every letter in the alphabet...
Did you know...
There are 12 "E's" in a Scrabble set
There are 12 "E's" in a Scrabble set
In response to question_mark, I found a web page that is about the book with over 50,000 words and no 'e'. http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/
It's pretty cool
It's pretty cool
That's a brilliant teaser! Absolutely fantastic! Going on my favourites for sure.
Got it quickly because i have seen things like that before. once read an entire 4 or 5 page story that used 1 syllable words (except for doorjamb... for no reason... i dunno), called "Small Talk from Will Par to the World" - didn't realize that until i was told either. interesting and fun.
Got it quickly because i have seen things like that before. once read an entire 4 or 5 page story that used 1 syllable words (except for doorjamb... for no reason... i dunno), called "Small Talk from Will Par to the World" - didn't realize that until i was told either. interesting and fun.
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nice one.
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nice one.
It's not a paragraph. You didn't indent.
I had never seen it and I got it within 2 minutes
what cowman said
Jan 23, 2007
Another thing unusual is that it wasn't indented. I saw that right away.
He didn't think of it on his own. Multiple websites have the EXACT same wording.
I said it was a pattern
question.statement.statement. Question. statement. statement
still, i loved it!! you have themost awsome teases, phyl.
question.statement.statement. Question. statement. statement
still, i loved it!! you have themost awsome teases, phyl.
heard it b4
Wow, this was pretty cool!
Dec 14, 2008
i hate this!!!! who ever made this is sooo dumb because there is something wrong the first time i looked at it i saw NO indent. so u LIED to everyone who read that paragraph. even though it is called "what is unusual about this paragraph?"you said NOTHING is wrong its just unusual. now u are a lair and a dumbo.GO BACK TO KINDERGARTEN
Wow this is a good one I was almost gonna say the right answer but I changed my answer so I got it wrong.
Great teaser!
I got it WAY under par!!!
pepsimax: don't call people dumb when you don't know how to spell "liar".
This teaser is great. I already read it in the Encyclopedia of Immaturity. Except in there it was called a puzzla. Really good
This teaser is great. I already read it in the Encyclopedia of Immaturity. Except in there it was called a puzzla. Really good
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