You would think being a writer, I would have gotten a few more literary based questions before now. Thanks to David Miller for being the brave one to break the ice.
Well, David, did you know that for pop culture aficionados and people who want to shoot out random wild facts so they can sound more intelligent than they actually are, there is the Cracked web site which recently took this question to task. And by "take to task," I mean, "track down the correct information from whoever did the hard work." And that way, lazy people like me can refer to them in times like these!
Check out the article "6 Pop Culture Mysteries That Were Solved by Fans." The Raven/Writing Desk riddle is number #4 and explained thus:
If you're looking for a more modern updated reason, I'll give it a whirl. Why is a raven like a writing desk? Both are rarely seen these days. Nature scares each new generation more and more as I've seen caterpillars send kids running, and we all use computer pads and pods and whatnot. I am likely considered old fashioned because I carry around a notebook for my poetry rough drafts, and even all of my final writing is composed on a laptop, which is placed on a number of non-writerly surfaces like dining room tables. My writing area at my home is a fold out table!
I did have a professional desk once to help me launch my writing "career." A half-ton Jordan's Furniture purchase that would come back to bite me when I moved 4 times over the last decade. Two hulking men assembled it and gave me the illusion that when it was my turn, it would be easy. That would have been the case if we could have lifted the desk above the stairwell bannisters, which no four of my friends could do. Boston apartment stairwells can barely accommodate queen sized beds, let alone my monstrosity. Indeed, I had to literally break off a piece the first time I moved it from my Brookline home. I finally gave up the last time I moved and left it in my old South Boston room before settling in my Jamaica Plain one-bedroom (when I still live today, see above comment about folding table). My only regret is that I didn't take an axe to it myself (which I'm sure my landlord had to do to get it out).
Thanks, David! Here's a poem to take you home.
Update: I have updated this riddle poem and submitted it. I'll let you know if it gets anywhere.
Cop out disclaimer: The poems written to accompany these questions are "extras" in my National Poetry Writing Month 30-poems-in-30 days challenge and might not necessarily be dazzling, able to stand on their own, or even any good.
Why is a raven like a writing desk? Not a new question, but it hasn't been answered to my satisfaction, anyway.
Well, David, did you know that for pop culture aficionados and people who want to shoot out random wild facts so they can sound more intelligent than they actually are, there is the Cracked web site which recently took this question to task. And by "take to task," I mean, "track down the correct information from whoever did the hard work." And that way, lazy people like me can refer to them in times like these!
Check out the article "6 Pop Culture Mysteries That Were Solved by Fans." The Raven/Writing Desk riddle is number #4 and explained thus:
In 1976, over a century after the book was first published, Denis Crutch from the Lewis Carroll Society of North America discovered that the real answer was in a long forgotten typo. Crutch found out that in 1896, Carroll originally wrote: "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Later editions corrected the word "nevar" -- not realizing that Carroll clearly meant to write "raven" backward. As in, "It is raven put with the wrong end in front."
If you're looking for a more modern updated reason, I'll give it a whirl. Why is a raven like a writing desk? Both are rarely seen these days. Nature scares each new generation more and more as I've seen caterpillars send kids running, and we all use computer pads and pods and whatnot. I am likely considered old fashioned because I carry around a notebook for my poetry rough drafts, and even all of my final writing is composed on a laptop, which is placed on a number of non-writerly surfaces like dining room tables. My writing area at my home is a fold out table!
I did have a professional desk once to help me launch my writing "career." A half-ton Jordan's Furniture purchase that would come back to bite me when I moved 4 times over the last decade. Two hulking men assembled it and gave me the illusion that when it was my turn, it would be easy. That would have been the case if we could have lifted the desk above the stairwell bannisters, which no four of my friends could do. Boston apartment stairwells can barely accommodate queen sized beds, let alone my monstrosity. Indeed, I had to literally break off a piece the first time I moved it from my Brookline home. I finally gave up the last time I moved and left it in my old South Boston room before settling in my Jamaica Plain one-bedroom (when I still live today, see above comment about folding table). My only regret is that I didn't take an axe to it myself (which I'm sure my landlord had to do to get it out).
Thanks, David! Here's a poem to take you home.
Update: I have updated this riddle poem and submitted it. I'll let you know if it gets anywhere.
Cop out disclaimer: The poems written to accompany these questions are "extras" in my National Poetry Writing Month 30-poems-in-30 days challenge and might not necessarily be dazzling, able to stand on their own, or even any good.
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