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I'm a kind of room you'll find in most any building.

You've walked into me many times I'm sure.

But you have never walked out of me and you never will.

What am I?

To my knowledge I made this riddle up. But it's simple enough that I bet it's come up before. The goal here is 3 fold:

  1. answer it if you can
  2. tell me if this riddle exists elsewhere
  3. help me work on the wording to make it better.
JnBrymn
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6 Answers6

60

Well, firstly the answer is

an empty room

I feel like I have seen this before, not the exact clues obviously, but the general gist/answer. Can't remember where though, sorry.

For what its worth, I like your clues; not sure how you'd improve them (not the least because "improve" is subjective). Perhaps you could explain what you mean by that?

Otherwise, if it were me, I'd try to make the couplet follow some form of rhyme scheme, but thats just because i like rhyming riddles, so your milage may vary

Update (just to make it official advice):

@JMac has mentioned in the comments below that its entirely possible for buildings to exist that have no empty rooms, and some tightening up of the wording of the first line might help account for such.

Its kind of a edge case, sure, but that sort of technicality is sort of the heart of a riddle like this - after all, if it wasn't an unusual case, it would be obvious and not a riddle at all!

boboquack
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crcroberts
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  • Maybe I'll try to make it rhyme. I like that idea. – JnBrymn Jan 29 '18 at 03:50
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    You may be thinking of the similar riddle that goes along the lines of "If you call my name I will no longer exist" – Itai Jan 29 '18 at 07:36
  • @JnBrymn if this answer is correct then you should accept it – Jesse Jan 29 '18 at 08:25
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    He wasn't looking only for the answer of the riddle but also for advices. – Untitpoi Jan 29 '18 at 08:35
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    Sorry, not a native speaker so maybe there is some way of saying, but why no one can walk outside this kind of room? – frarugi87 Jan 29 '18 at 14:52
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    @frarugi87 the act of walking in the empty room made it not being an empty room anymore, so you can't walk out of an empty room – Mart10 Jan 29 '18 at 15:01
  • Well.... right! :) +1 – frarugi87 Jan 29 '18 at 15:10
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    I'm a bit skeptical of the first line "I'm a kind of room you find in any building." Plenty of buildings are pretty full. Maybe even adding "you could find" would make it a bit more clear. – JMac Jan 29 '18 at 17:41
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    C'mon, if I walk into a room with $-1$ people inside and immediately leave, I will walk out of an empty room! – yo' Jan 29 '18 at 19:10
  • Keeping the subject of the lines consistent would be an improvement in my eyes. "You've walked in", but "no one has ever walked out" – THiebert Jan 29 '18 at 22:29
  • Not quite the same, so wont make it an answer, but: You've never been in an empty room : Showerthoughts - Reddit – Gjordis Jan 30 '18 at 13:59
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    Yea I am agreeing with others, when I leave a room with no one in it I am leaving an empty room. This is just juvenile. – blankip Jan 30 '18 at 17:22
  • @JMac I'm pretty skeptical that all but the smallest buildings will ever not have an empty room. Out-of-the-way bathrooms? Cleaning closests? Utility rooms? – user253751 Jan 30 '18 at 22:17
  • @immibis Those all have things in them. I guess the flavour of the answer was "A room without people in it" not "an empty room". To me, those are two very different things. – JMac Jan 30 '18 at 22:26
  • I updated the wording a bit FYI – JnBrymn Feb 01 '18 at 17:58
41

I first thought of

a broom

I did walk into it many times I'm sure. But I am also not the smartest person.

Alexander Engelhardt
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I'd go with

entrance.

Reasons:

When you walk into a building it is the entrance but when you walk out it will be the exit. In any building there is some room that is the entrance even though it may just be the first room you enter.

Petey Pete
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6

I think

Mirror (Room in the mirror)

You walked into it many times but no one come out of that room.

Asterisk
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4

A free room.

You can't walk out of

a free room, because once you are in it, it doesn't exist any more.

Rand al'Thor
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Bruce Li
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The attic. You climb into and climb out of it. You can't walk into it.

F1Krazy
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CHRIS
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    If you can't walk into it, how can you satisfy the condition "You've walked into me many times I'm sure." – Will M. Jan 30 '18 at 21:08