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A lady enters a clothing store.

She tries on a dress size L, but she finds it too large for her. Therefore she tries on the same dress, size XL. This one fits her perfectly.

Happy, she buys the dress and she leaves.

How is that possible?

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7 Answers 7

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That is because:

The sizes are in roman numerals, L and XL correspond to both 50 and 40. So after trying the size 50 (L) dress, she went for a smaller one, and chose a size 40 (XL)
Next time she might not want to shop at Caesar's Clothes Emporium

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  • $\begingroup$ Damn, I was just a minute late. $\endgroup$
    – I'm Nobody
    Apr 29, 2022 at 14:48
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Size L for little, XL extra little

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  • $\begingroup$ since "This puzzle was kind of a joke, not to be taken too literally" according to one of dr_'s comments, I find this answer appropriate. +1 $\endgroup$
    – GabrielH
    May 25, 2022 at 8:46
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The woman is shopping at

a secondhand store, and the XL dress has been badly shrunk by the previous owner.

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  • $\begingroup$ Not sure why this is downvoted, it's a fine answer for a question with [lateral-thinking] tag. $\endgroup$
    – justhalf
    Apr 30, 2022 at 14:29
  • $\begingroup$ Much more reasonable than the accepted answer. I've never seen sizes in Roman numerals. $\endgroup$
    – msh210
    May 1, 2022 at 5:37
  • $\begingroup$ Me neither! This puzzle was kind of a joke, not to be taken too literally. $\endgroup$
    – dr_
    May 2, 2022 at 6:46
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Solution:

She's in a clothing store that uses roman numbers. It fits her perfectly because the size L refers to 50 (in roman numeral) and XL as 40 therefore it fits her

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This is actually not unusual.

American, European and Chinese sizes are quite different, an American XL would be usually called XXL in Europe, and a Chinese XL is likely an "average" European size.

With modern globalization, cheap Chinese clothing stores around Europe, people directly ordering from China, this is quite a common situation. Probably she was in a cheap, maybe secondhand, store, with everything mixed up.

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She's in the

kids section, not adults, therefore a large would be too small.

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    $\begingroup$ This directly contradicts "a dress size L [was] too large for her" $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Apr 30, 2022 at 19:30
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The L shirt was a woman’s size shirt. The XL was a youth’s shirt.

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