Painter Pat

A riddle for you. Many will have come across this before, but for some it will hopefully be new - and thought provoking.

A man and his son are driving in a car one day, when they get into a fatal accident. The man is killed instantly. The boy is knocked unconscious, but he is still alive. He is rushed to hospital, and will need immediate surgery. The doctor enters the emergency room, looks at the boy, and says "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son."

How is this possible?


Back to work today, still not feeling a hundred per cent but I've felt clearer in my head this evening. Hot news from Shipley is that the Sun Hotel is getting a fresh lick of paint. I felt just a little sad because the faded, scuffed and peeling paint gave the place a wonderfully dishevelled feel. It's not so photogenic now!

I experienced a feeling of surprise when I realised that one of the painters was a woman. But why should that be surprising? It immediately reminded me of the riddle above, which may not be a riddle at all to some of you, and perhaps the answer is far more obvious now than when I first came across it some twenty odd years ago. Back then I felt ashamed to have been caught out for quite a while, but I felt better about myself when some quite feminist friends also failed to work it out immediately! These gender stereotypes are hard-wired into our brains at a very low level. There are also a lot of masculine hints in the wording which perhaps steer our thought process towards making a false assumption - and it is possible that these are balanced here by the picture with its feminine hint.

Anyone to whom this was new care to offer their reaction? Are these gender stereotypes less strong amongst younger people? I'd be keen to get your thoughts.