What Is Black and White and Red All Over?

Red or read

The color red and the word "read" (as in "I read it") sound the same. A newspaper is printed in black type on white paper, and it is read all over: in kitchens, on trains and in waiting rooms. The question points at colors, and the answer slips in a verb.

It is a riddle for the ear. Written as "red all over" it is a clue about color, and the whole trick depends on the listener not hearing a second spelling.

How to ask it

Say the colors one at a time, slowly, so the listener has a picture of black and white before "red all over" arrives. The longer the picture builds, the more surprising the answer is.

What the paper looks like

The riddle describes a traditional newspaper, with black ink on pale newsprint. Many papers now print color photographs, but the black-and-white look of a page of type is still what people picture.

A 1924 printing

The World's Best Conundrums and Riddles of All Ages (J. Gilchrist Lawson, 1924) prints the question and gives the answer as "A newspaper", among a group of riddles about newspapers.

The same sound trick elsewhere

Pairs of words that sound alike carry many riddles. The one about 6 and 7 uses "ate" and "eight" in the same way.