In a message dated 1/19/2004 4:14:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
frankie.roberto@ucl.ac.uk writes:
"A boy and his father are walking along a path on the top of a cliff on a
windy day. A loose stone causes them to loose their grip and they both
tumble over the edge of the cliff. An ambulance soon arrives on the scene to
examine the bodies. They conclude that the father is dead, but that the boy
might still survive. The boy is rushed to hospital and into an operating
theatre where a surgeon is waiting. Just before the operation is about to
start, the surgeon looks at the boy and announces 'I cannot operate on this
boy, he's my son!'"
Interesting, and evidential of what I may call 'English' thought (or
metarepresentation, if you wish) -- as opposed, to, say 'French'? Thus, the site
http://list-archive.xemacs.org/xemacs-beta/199903/msg00488.html
carries the 'parallel' Gallic version,
"Un père et son fils font de l'escalade. Le fils tombe
et se blesse gravement. Son père l'emmène aussitôt à
l'hopital, et quand le chirurgien le voit, il s'écrie: «Mais
je ne peux pas l'opérer! C'est mon fils!»."
with the comment:
[M]ost people can't find [a] key because, in French,
"le chirurgien" ('the surgeon') is a male-only expression
which also designates a female surgeon ('la chirurgienne',
the logical equivalent, doesn't exist). But [French]
people don't think [about] it and conclude that the boy
can't have two fathers."
For the record:
http://www.womanlinks.com/specials/special030501.shtml
traces the riddle to [1970s] 'All in the family', while
http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h93/h9325063/riddle.html
quotes it -- and a commentary -- from Douglas R. Hofstadter (Metamagical
Themas, 1985).
Cheers,
JL
J L Speranza
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