Parenting

See If You Can Solve This Viral Riddle That's Driving The Internet Nuts

by Julie Scagell
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

Everyone is confused by Teresa’s family

If you love solving a good riddle or feel like pulling your hair out strand by strand while screaming into the abyss, there’s a question floating around the internet that may just do both.

People all over the damn place are getting very worked up by this riddle: “If Teresa’s daughter is my daughter’s mother, what am I to Teresa?” Thank all that is good and right in the world, it came with a multiple choice question.

The person asking is either:

A-Teresa’s grandmother

B-Mother

C-Daughter

D-Granddaughter

E-Teresa herself

Holy shit, this is blowing my mind.

It’s worth noting that I regularly flip to the answer page of my crossword puzzle or turn a magazine quiz page upside down to see the answers after spending all of 26 seconds trying to work it out. (I use every ounce of patience in my body to parent my three kids; I have nothing left and feel no shame whatsoever.)

But if you’re a person who takes pride in analyzing and has a “never say die” attitude, grab a piece of paper and write down the possible options. If you’ve already figured out the correct answer by now, good for you.

Really, good for you.

According to Buzzfeed, there is a lifeline that may help solve this riddle. Take the words “my daughter’s mother” and replace it with the word “me.” So, “If Teresa’s daughter is me, what am I to Teresa?” Clear as mud?

Warning, here comes the answer…

The answer is coming.

Right.

Now.

C-Daughter — because when in doubt, always choose C.

It’s just another way of saying, “I am my mother’s daughter,” Good Housekeeping says. Well, that would have been helpful to know several minutes ago when we were constructing charts and diagrams and consulting sundials and shit.

But let’s not pat ourselves on the back quite yet. People of the World Wide Web have pointed out that the answer is not quite so simple.

Depending on who’s asking the question, the answer could also be daughter-in-law or son-in-law. “Either the speaker is the daughter of Teresa or the speaker is married to the daughter of Teresa,” one person wrote on Facebook. Another pointed out, “That’s all well and good if the kid only has one parent. But since she also has a dad, why couldn’t it be Teresa’s son-in-law?”

Dammit, it’s hard enough when there is only one answer to a question.

Is anyone else ready for a cocktail?

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