Lateral Thinking Questions

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ANSWER: L.T.Q. #41  !
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Date: Date: Thu, 5 Sep 96 09:57 EDT

Here is this week's question:

In a town in ancient Greece there was a law stating that all men must be clean-shaven and that no man might shave himself. The only person allowed to shave people was the licensed town barber (who was forty years old). There was only one barber. Since the barber was bound by the same law, who shaved the barber?

ANSWER:

The conventional answer to this problem is that it is a circular paradox. If he shaves himself, then he breaks the law, and if he doesn't, he breaks the law. However, the lateral thinking answer is that the issue does not arise—no one shaves the licensed town barber as she is a woman!

Jamie said she thought the barber should have been called a hairdresser, so I checked the dictionary. A barber is "one who shaves and trims customers' beards and hair (now frequently called a hairdresser)." A hairdresser is "one whose business is to dress and cut hair." Barber is from the Latin barba meaning "beard." Since this question was about beards, the hair cutter in question would be a barber. Lew proposed that "the licenced town barber was a barberette."

It wouldn't surprise me to find out there were some sort of political shenanigans going on and that the town's only licensed barberette had something to do with the passing of this bizarre law! And what was the penalty for breaking the law? Talk about being a Victim of Fashion!

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