Why is a raven like a writing desk?

The answer to this riddle is simple: Lewis Carroll, who originally posed the question in his famous children's book, "Alice in Wonderland," never intended to provide an answer to it. He only came up with one after readers pestered him with letters.

When Carroll finally explained the riddle, he said: "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar (raven spelled backwards) put with the wrong end in front." Answers from other notable sources include: "Poe wrote on both," from Sam Lloyd, and Aldous Huxley's famously nonsensical "because there's a 'b' in both and an 'n' in neither."