For other uses, see Riddle (disambiguation).

A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as
a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed
in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution,
and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the
answer.
Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from
hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian,
Dutch and Filipino sources amongst many others.[1] Many riddles and riddle-themes are
internationally widespread. However, at least in the West, if not more widely, "riddles have in the
past few decades ceased to be part of oral tradition", being replaced by other oral-literary forms, and
by other tests of wit such as quizzes.[2]
In the assessment of Elli Köngas Maranda (originally writing about Malaitian riddles, but with an
insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social
norms, "riddles make a point of playing with conceptual boundaries and crossing them for the
intellectual pleasure of showing that things are not quite as stable as they seem" – though the point
of doing so may still ultimately be to "play with boundaries, but ultimately to affirm them".[3

For other uses, see proverb (dismbiguation).

A proverb(from latin: probium) is a simple and concret saying, pupolarly know and reapeated that
express a truth[citation needed] based on common sense or experiencr. they are often metaphorical. Proverb
fall into the category of formulaic language and form a folklore genre.

Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the
present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of
Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in
distributing proverbs across Europe. Mieder has concluded that cultures that treat the Bible as their
"major spiritual book contain between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the
Bible".[1] In his list of the 106 most common and widespread proverbs across Europe, Paczolay listed
11 that are from the Bible.[2] However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs.