[Ads-l] Pseudo-Riddle: When is a mouse if it spins? Because the higher it gets the fewer

Wed Oct 3 21:39:31 UTC 2018

Nigel Rees's Newsletter of July 2018 discussed the following confusing
pseudo-riddle:

Why is a mouse when it spins?
The higher, the fewer.

Rees indicated that his correspondents remembered "teasing parents in
the 1920s and 30s" sharing this brain tickler. Rees's current
Newsletter of October 2018 contains some excellent citations located
by researcher Dennis Lien who traced a version of the pseudo-riddle
back to 1897.

Building on this work, I located a story by Robert Overton containing
the following nonsensical conundrum:

When is a mouse if it spins?
Because the higher it gets the fewer.

Overton's tale appeared in a collection published in 1893, but a
newspaper printed it in December 1892.

I conjecture that Overton originated this pseudo-riddle, and it
evolved over time. The protagonist of the story who is named Harehead
hears the pseudo-riddle from a prankster named Smoogleslush. Harehead
is unable to comprehend the question and answer. Eventually he is
driven insane, and is sent to an asylum referred to as Colney Hatch.
Below is the beginning of the story:

Year: 1893
Book: Ten Minutes: Holiday Yarns and Recitations
Author: Robert Overton
Publisher: Dean and Son, London
Story 18: A Cry from Colney Hatch: When Is a Mouse If It Spins?
Start Page 93, End Page 96

https://books.google.com/books?id=RzgPAAAAQAAJ&q=%22is+a+mouse%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
I ALWAYS thought there was insanity in our family. Now I know it. I
can swear it. I can do more than that—I can prove it.

Personally, the hereditary poison might have remained in me passively
latent for ever—might never have broken out—if it hadn't been for
Smoogleslush. I blame Smoogleslush. I was all right till the awful
evening when he asked me the riddle that cracked my brain. I tried to
solve it—not only the question, but the answer, for the latter puzzled
me more than the former. I couldn't. Until I solve it I am mad. I
shall never solve it. My only hope is that the problem I am going to
make public will turn other brains too. He took me unawares. He said
abruptly:

"You're pretty good at riddles, Harehead, aren't you? I've heard so."

"Well, I've guessed a few," I said, modestly.

"I'm afraid mine is too simple—too obvious," said Smoogleslush "to be
worth your solution; but such as it is, here goes: When is a mouse if
it spins?"

"I beg pardon?"

"When is a mouse if it spins?"

"When is a mouse if it spins?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean?"

"That's the riddle."

"Oh, that's the riddle—what is a mouse if it spins?"

"No, no, simpler than that. I said, WHEN is a mouse if it spins?"

"You've got it wrong, Smoogleslush."

"Not at all—when is a mouse if it spins? There's no sort of trouble
about the question—the cleverness, the clearness, comes in with the
answer."

"What is the answer?"

"It's splendid—one of those self-evident ones—makes you wonder you
couldn't see it before. You've got the question all right?"

"I have," said I, firmly, beginning to be a little vexed: "When is a
mouse if it spins?"

"That's right—when is a mouse if it spins? Because the higher it gets
the fewer. Ha, ha!"

"Ha, ha, ha!"

"See it?"

"Yes," said I; "ha, ha, ha!"

"Plain as a pikestaff, isn't it?"

"Plainer."

Smoogleslush left me. I was left, as it were, face to face with that
awful riddle. If Smoogleslush could see it, why couldn't I? I repeated
it to myself over and over again, but every time my brain got worse
and worse. It must be obvious—there seemed something irresistibly
logical in the very phraseology. Why couldn't I see it?
[End excerpt]

You may see the full story by following this link and clicking on the
box displaying the title:
https://books.google.com/books?id=RzgPAAAAQAAJ&q=%22is+a+mouse%22#v=snippet&

Here is the ending of the tale:

[Begin excerpt]
Somebody dragged me to a couple of doctors. I said at once: "When is a
spins if it's fewer? Because the mouse it gets the higher."

I distinctly heard the doctors say they were quite willing to sign the
certificate. I remember standing before a bald-headed J.P., and
demanding: "Because is a gets if it's mouse? When the fewer it highers
the spinner. Ha, ha, ha!"

The magistrate signed at once, and they brought me to Colney Hatch. I
know I am mad, but that is no reason why somebody shouldn't tell me:
"When is a mouse if it spins?"
[End excerpt]

A modified version of the story appeared in a newspaper a short time
before the official publication year of 1893. I suspect that Overton's
book was available before this official date. The version published in
"The Cornish Telegraph" under the title "THE RIDDLE THAT TURNED MY
BRAIN" ended with the protagonist being taken to "Winson Green".

Date: December 29, 1892
Newspaper: The Cornish Telegraph
County: Cornwall, England
Article: THE RIDDLE THAT TURNED MY BRAIN (acknowledgment to a
"Birmingham paper")
Quote Page 6, Column 6
Database: British Newspaper Archive

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

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