Which of these phrases is the odd one out? The solution should not involve number of words/lines, letters, spaces, specific types of sentences, and all other things grammar and usage-related. Hope you know your Shakespeare.

1.) She is the white.

2.) I don't like the name Julieta. It needs to drop a letter, I think.

3.) "Is it really Jacks? I thought it was spelled differently..."

4.) Timidness is the best with locks.

5.) This Ancient Greece food staple is missing a letter.

6.) Beatrice is her name, but there's no heaven and hell here.

Alright, nobody's touched this one yet, so here are my thoughts.  I'm a long way from solving it, though.

Each of these seem to refer to a Shakesperean character.  As far as 1.) goes, I have no clue.  The only semblance of a clue I may or may not have is that possibly it refers to Desdemona?  She is the white wife of a black soldier.  But that's pretty lame. 

Number 2 could refer to either of two characters, both named Juliet.  Either the one from Romeo & J., or the less well known one from Measure for Measure.  One significant difference between the two is that MfM Juliet is often referred to as "Julietta."  So evidence seems to weigh on her side.  Another thing that occurs to me is that perhaps "...drop a letter..." might refer to the action in a play.  People in Shakespearean comedies are always dropping their correspondence on the ground, and hijinks ensue.

3.) could go to either of a couple of characters, too.  Namely, Ajax from Troilus and Cressida, or either of the Jaqueses in As You Like It.  No idea which one it would go to here.

I thought 4 referred to Timon of Athens for a while, because of the first three letters.  Silly me.  It refers to Shylock from Merchant of Venice.  It's a pun.  Hooray Puns! (Brought to you by Red Stripe Puns.)

For 5, I think the Greek staple would probably be an olive, which gives us some ambiguity.  There's an Oliver in As You Like It, and an Olivia in Twelfth Night.  While Oliver is tidier as far as spelling goes, Olivia is embroiled in some of the aforementioned correspondence-dropping.  Though she didn't write the letter, someone else wrote it in her name.

There's only one Beatrice in Shakespeare, and that's in Much Ado...  But heaven and hell?  Why mention that?  Because another major literary Beatrice was the guide through these places in Dante's Divine Comedy.  So I guess he just wanted to make sure we didn't look outside of Shakespeare's canon on this one.

Now as to the solution:  Who knows?  I haven't been able to make heads or tails of that one.  As far as the others go, maybe the ambiguity itself is significant?  Another possibility:  If we assume that 2 is Measure Juliet and not Romeo's, then all of the plays I've mentioned comedies, with the exception of Othello.  In which case, if that is what one is referring to, I'd say it is the odd one out. 

Posted by Miles on 2004-04-30 12:12:02