This wordplay riddle asks: What has four “eyes” but still can’t see? The quotation marks around “eyes” are the biggest clue.
The answer is: Mississippi.
The word Mississippi contains four letter i’s. When spoken aloud, “i’s” sounds like “eyes,” which creates the joke. Of course, letters cannot actually see.
The riddle is not describing a person, animal, or object with four real eyes. It is playing with the sound of the letter name “I.” Once you start thinking about spelling rather than eyesight, the answer becomes much easier to spot.
It is a short classic that depends entirely on hearing the clue in a different way.
