140 replies to this topic

[PVDWales]

Spoiler for What I thought the answer was

I thought that the barber was a woman!
I guess the barber could also be a man growing a beard!

[highwalker]

I guess this is a basic Paradox in itself and the answer is evident understanding the fact that its a paradox.

"There was a barber in a village, who promised to shave everybody, who does not shave himself (or herself).
Can the barber shave himself and keep the mentioned promise?"

Spoiler for The Answer -

Yes, the barber can absolutely keep his promise. His promise is to shave everybody who doesn't shave himself, not who shave themselves, which includes himself - considering of course he is a shaven person! So he can shave himself as a barber but not as someone who shaves himself! :-)

[pratz]

The correc6t answere is that the Barber is a woman. therefore she never needs to shave herself, and she can shave each of the men in the village.

[Sharon1301]

i think that the barber can keep his promise!!! he promises o shave everybody who doesnt shave himself/herself meaning all customers! if we consider the barber as a "customer" then when he wants to shave he goes to the "barber" and get shaved(though he doesnt pay anything!) and the promise is kept!

[Pieterb]

It's easy: the Barber has shop in the Village but he himself lives in another.
Or it's a traveling barber.

[zam]

Spoiler for open your eyes

he shaves everyone who doesnt shave themselves.. but the people who shave themselves including himself.. just shave themselves and thats that

This is very easy people pay attention

[zam]

The correc6t answere is that the Barber is a woman. therefore she never needs to shave herself, and she can shave each of the men in the village.

yeah but maybe girls need to shave their legs and stuff think about it that way

[stevethou]

Well, this appears to be a simple English rules question. Because of the location of the commas in this sentence, we could re-word the sentence to read: "There was a barber in a village who does not shave himself (or herself), who promised to shave everybody." Therefore the answer is yes, of course, the barber, who does not shave himself can shave himself and keep the promise to shave everybody.

However, given the nature of the question, I believe the question being asked is " There was a barber in a village, who promised to shave everybody who does not shave himself or herself." In which case the paradox lies in the concept that he promises to shave those people who do not shave themselves. He can, of course, keep this promise. There is nothing in the barber's promise that says he can only shave those people who do not shave themselves. He can shave people who shave themselves too, even himself.

"But no one else"

[stevethou]

Spoiler for open your eyes

he shaves everyone who doesnt shave themselves.. but the people who shave themselves including himself.. just shave themselves and thats that

This is very easy people pay attention

But he can not shave anyone that shaves themselves

[stevethou]

The only way this can be true is if the barber is a women (or otherwise does not need to shave),
or the barber sports a beard