Originally posted by rollsthepaul
A man is travelling in a country where there are two tribes. One always lies and the other always tells the truth. He comes to a fork in the road but
there is no sign and a man is sitting by the side of the road. One road goes to Pigotville, your destination, and the other does not. You don't know
which tribe the man is from. What one question can you ask the man, such that the answer ensures that you will take the road to Pigotville?
Your riddle is flawed.
You would think you could just go all Jennifer Connelly on him, right? But you cant. I tried to go to Pigotville last may myself, and know for a fact
that you're screwed no matter which man greets you at the fork. There is no one question that will ensure you a usable answer.
See, when I got there and met the tribesman - le'ts call him Sutopxe - and saw the conveniently placed sign explaining about the two tribes I thought
"
I got this, I remember the riddle in Labyrinth - I'll just apply my knowledge gained by being a consumer of popular culture in the
eighties!
So I did, and I asked him what road a member of the other tribe would advise me to take, and crossed my arms and felt pretty pleased with both myself
and the eighties.
The tribesman looked at me for the longest time and then in a mild mannered voice said "
I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss
Lewinsky"
When I replied something eloquent like "huh ..?" or "gah..?" he looked at me again and said while waving his finger at me "
I did NOT
inhale" and before I could even respond he continued "
We know for a fact that there are weapons of mass destruction there" and then
added that he wasn't a crook and was not at all going to invade Cuba.
...
Had it not been for the map I shortly thereafter pried from his cold, dead hands, I might still have been stuck out there.
You see, one might always tell lies and the other might always speak truth, but neither is guaranteed to answer you questions in any meaningful way.
Most people - tribesmen or not - wont, anyway, especially when asked for directions.