No. My wife doesn’t ask bullshit questions just to start arguments out of insecurity. And my mother is dead. No, she did not drown.

“Double the life insurance baby!”

I don’t have a partner and I’m a PADI certified rescue diver.

If I see my mother drowning I’m going to hang around until I’m sure she’s fully dead.

There are so many questions to which there is no right answer, but most of them do have a wrong answer (in this case, neither) and it would significantly increase both-

peoples ability to make a non-wrong decision in time to do any good

-and-

their ability to find peace afterwards

-if assholes would stop acting like anyone is a bad person for not seeing their version of the right answer.

Our partner, our mother abused us and we love our partner so that’s an easy answer

I’d save my wife, and my mom would absolutely want me to.

It is easy for me to answer, my mom is old. My wife can probably tread water while I get my mom to shore.

I told my wife this and she replied that she is a strong, independent woman who can swim perfectly well on her own. The right answer is that I should grab my mom and start bringing her towards the shore while my wife swims ahead and helps me pull her in once we get to shallower water.

Both my wife and I suck at swimming, so I guess we’re both drowning. My mom might be able to save herself but likely not anyone else.

Some mothers and girlfriends can swim.

So yes it’s a weird question. It doesn’t describe the situation very well as to how a person is drowning like is it fatigue? Have they somehow been knocked out? Is the situation so dire that it does not actually really matter who is rescued first and you could actually rescue both?

It’s like if the world opened up a pit to hell and you can only save one relative who will it be

It’s so unlikely that you’d be in that position so much as you’d be likely also falling into the pit of hell so it’s just creating meaningless drama and if someone keeps posing such questions to you I’d keep an eye on why they are dramatizing so much. Like why do they need to keep reestablishing their meaning to everyone’s life in comparison to other people who also hold meaning? Why does someone else need to be reduced for someone to feel meaningful? That’s some narcissistic traits being cracked open there.

Because my mother is dead and buried, I try to convince my girlfriend to save me, because I don’t know how to swim.

RIP ladies, I’m no lifeguard and I’m a terrible swimmer.

Ask her if she would save her mom or your dad. In front of him.

Mom. I can always get a new girlfriend.

My mom is dead though, so the girlfriend.

I don’t have a girlfriend though, so I guess I’ll just drown myself.

I’ve heard this one before and I’ve heard that the “correct” answer is to save your mother because “you can always get another wife but you can never get another mother.”

I’ve also heard that the answer to this (originally Chinese) question is indicative of cultural values (filial piety like you say) but I wonder how differently people would answer in a wide survey… If my mom asked me, I would choose my mom because I don’t have a wife.

I would choose my wife since my mother could use some rehydration. One could say she is a little ashy.