“What's green, hangs on a wall and whistles?”

—  Leo Rosten

The quote "What's green, hangs on a wall and whistles?" is famous quote attributed to Leo Rosten (1908–1997), American writer.

Riddle presented in The Joys of Yiddish (1968) The answer: "A Herring" — because you can paint it green, nail it to the wall — and the whistling part is added just to make the riddle hard." Rosten did not claim to be the author of this riddle, but he popularized it.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 18, 2023. History

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Leo Rosten photo
Leo Rosten 11
American writer 1908–1997

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