[5 short ones]

1) knowledge

2) a sieve

3) ??? no idea - I'm not a fan of the fire/smoke answer, but I guess that's it. Why can't fire be the mother?

4) umbrella

5) a question or a riddle (but they are still something when you know the answer)

[School days]

Harry's Mum isn't part of the question, it's just the 3 school kids

I don't think the answer is limited to being five miles from the North Pole.

Nice one zdr I wonder what the mental process is that causes most people to divide the distance in half

Infinite original locations < 10 miles from the North Pole

Is the person constantly traveling North or does he find North once and then walk for 10 miles? If he is constantly going North, which is how I read this, then I can't make sense out of it. I believe the answer is meant to be the North Pole, but at some point in his travels he is not traveling North.

History and one's life story (auto-biography) both have the same logical conclusion. They are happening as you write and therefore cannot be finished.

yeah, it was a yawn. Was this too easy? If so, which line gives it away too much?

Love the answers.

Here's what I had in mind:

an auto-biography or pi (with a stretch in logic)

This is an oldie, but it didn't show up on the search engine, so here goes:

What can be written, but never finished?

I just wrote this one, hope you like it.

A most contagious affliction

Not from the works of fiction

Tired, you may not be

Though it will take a hold of thee

Overpowers, but leaves no trace

Can spread across great space

Stops speech and ends song

But never lasts too long

Scraff, I read the responses. It's a rhetorical question. I mean to say that 'I won't go through every past riddle to make sure mine are 100% original.'

I agree with what you say about senior members reading the same thing over and over, which is why i proposed a newbie section.

He is not asking whether the room is lit better with one or another... The guy would use the 240 watt bulb, because it costs more to use 4 fixtures over 1 fixture even though they add up to the same wattage.

you should take the word 'only' out, because you essentially are saying make: 'only one word', but you mean 'one word'.

one word...

I just joined this forum. Locking New Topics that have already been posted is a turn-off to newbies. Do you expect me to read through every past topic? Maybe you should make a new section for people that have been members for under a month or something.

The morgue is there.

A man goes to a Home Products store to make a purchase for his house. He walks up to the clerk to ask about costs.

The man asks: "How much for 6?", "3 dollars sir" replied the clerk.

"Well, how much for 12?" "That will be 6 dollars, sir"

"OK, then how much for 200?" "That's 9 dollars, sir."

What is the man buying?

The cost goes up the same amount with each question.

[Ownership]

[They usually refer to people as "hey, you".]

hahah, people mostly refer to you as 'hey, you'?

bonanva was right, the saying is 'misery', not all these variations

SIX - if you can add a 'curved line'

or if it has to be straight a line, then right through the center horizontally. The bottom half would look like a VI reflecting in water or a mirror.

She was the executioner, so it's her job.