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A Riley riddle from my neighbour:

Ma prefex es a salfush beest,
Ma suffex es oor ‘Noo’.
Ma enfex es joos tha’, yous sees,
Ma all, oor fustive doo.

Um, I'm not sure if you caught all that, so allow me to provide an alternative rendering:

Their prefix is a greedy swine,
Their suffix their negation.
Their infix I’d consider ‘mine’,
Their whole their celebration!

What is the answer to my neighbour's riddle, and where do we both live?

(Please explain both riddles and the title!)

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1 Answer 1

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The answer:

You live in Scotland, so you're talking about Scottish New Year, or Hogmanay

Explanations:

The first riddle is written with a Scottish accent, and reads like this (very inaccurate):
My prefix is a selfish beast,
My suffix is our 'No'.
My infix is just that, you see,
My all, our festive do.

The solution to the riddle (2nd one, but suits for 1st)

Their prefix is a greedy swine,

HOG

Their suffix their negation.

NAY (Scottish for "No")

Their infix I’d consider ‘mine’,

MA (Scottish for "My", as can be seen in 1st riddle)

Their whole their celebration!

HOGMANAY (Scottish New Year's eve which explains the title)

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    $\begingroup$ Correct! And almost a spot-on interpretation of the dialect. If you can correct 'too' to 'do' in the last line of your translation, I'll give you the checkmark :) Also, I was actually thinking of the 'neighbours' being rot13(Ratynaq naq Fpbgynaq), which makes sense of why I used 'their' insted of 'our' throughout the second riddle, but your way works well too of course (no need to adjust it). +1 and Happy New Year! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Dec 31, 2019 at 10:38
  • $\begingroup$ festive do surely. $\endgroup$
    – Paul Evans
    Commented Dec 31, 2019 at 15:55
  • $\begingroup$ Great. It's yours! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Dec 31, 2019 at 17:28

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