Really, a problem is that almost everybody is right.
Yes - this is why I pointed out that in Jeff's post this riddle was used as a metaphor. Otherwise we could spend all our time bickering about the correct spelling of "colour" or other trivialities instead of addressing the interesting questions.
The interesting question in Jeff's post was the poor human understanding of probabilities.
Re:The question is wrong
by randallsquared on Saturday January 03, 2009 @07:41PM
(#418815)
"But also, if someone volunteers that one out of their two children is a girl, then it's effectively-100% that the other is a boy, in real life."
Well, yes, because saying one is implies that the other isn't, in speech. But we could talk about sets of two of anything that has a 50% probability.
Slightly amending a quote in a similar context from "Principles of Economics, Explained" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVp8UGjECt4), nobody says "I have a girl. I have another girl. I have another girl."
One way of interpreting this perennial debate is as proof of how just how fuzzy English can be. People aren't just arguing about the answer, they argue about the question too.