A pet shop owner had a parrot with a sign on its cage that said "Parrot repeats everything it hears." A young man bought the parrot and for two weeks he spoke to it and it didn't say a word. He returned the parrot but the shopkeeper said he never lied about the parrot. How can this be?
Common Wrong Answers
“The parrot was just shy.”
While it's possible for animals to be shy, the riddle specifies that the shopkeeper never lied. A shy parrot would still be able to hear and eventually repeat sounds, making this answer inconsistent with the shopkeeper's claim.
“The parrot was old and couldn't talk anymore.”
The riddle implies that the parrot could repeat everything it heard, suggesting it had the ability to speak. If it was old and unable to talk, that would contradict the initial claim made by the shopkeeper.
“The young man was speaking a different language.”
The riddle states that the parrot repeats everything it hears, which implies that it would be able to understand regardless of the language. If the parrot were not deaf, it would still mimic sounds even if it didn't understand the language.
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