Quote Originally Posted by DSchles View Post
Well, see, that's a much bigger problem, because now, all you have to do is say that each monkey had TWO tortoises in each hand, and now what?? It won't do (at least for me) to say that you can reason this in two completely different ways and still get to 10, because the claim is now that, no matter how you construe the language, you will (accidentally?) get to 10 regardless. I don't like that at all. Put TWO tortoises in each hand and NOW tell me what the correct answer is!

As a math teacher, it has always mattered to me HOW you get the (right) answer and not simply that you DID get the right answer. Example: how much is 1 + 2 + 3? First answer: 6. Why? Because 1 + 2 = 3, and 3 + 3 = 6. Second answer: 6. Why? Because 1 + 2 = 4, and 4 + 3 = 6! In the latter, all you have to do is make two mistakes, and your answer is just fine, right? No, not to me.

And, yet again, tell me very specifically, what in the language rules out definitively that they are ALL going in the same direction?

It is the same for the very famous "As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives ..." problem. Why must it be automatically assumed that "met" means "crossed paths with"? If you met someone while going to the casino (and hit it off), couldn't the two of you have wound up in the casino together, forming a new friendship? Food for thought? Indeed.

Don
First, I agree with ALMOST everything you said. There can be only be 1 answer. The fact that they’re 2 ways to get there doesn’t mean they’re both right. It is coincidental. Nothing that a well placed comma couldn’t clarify.

Second, to add to your plethora of what might become true, I unveil for your consideration and analysis

“If my bubba had baitsim, she’d be my zaida.

If that in fact had been the case with my own grandparents, I would have lamented the loss of my Saturday night kosher salami sandwiches.