Lewis Carrol?

Question

Has anyone come up with a good answer to the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk" As asked in Alice in Wonderland.

Answer 1

In the 1896 edition of Alice In Wonderland,
Carroll wrote a new preface in which he gave what he
considered the best answer to the riddle: "Because it can
produce a few notes, tho they are *very* flat; and it is
nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note the spelling
of "never" as "nevar." Carroll clearly intended to spell
"raven" backwards. The word was corrected to "never" in
all later printings, perhaps by an editor who fancied he
had caught a printer's error. Because Carroll died soon
after this "correction" destroyed the ingenuity of his
answer, the original spelling was never restored. Whether
Carroll was aware of the damage done to his clever answer
is not known.

Answer 2

Some writing desk had a sliding wooden peice that came down over the front similiar to a beak opening and closing. plus
they are both nowns
no one likes to eat either of them
they can both be black
they can both be sky dived with
both make me think of Poe
a dog would try to eat both of them
they are both on this list
they are likely to be found on a farm
they are both mentioned in Alice In Wonderland

Answer 3

Lewis Carroll himself later came up with the punchline "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!".

Other suggestions include:
Because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes. (Puzzle maven Sam Loyd, 1914)
Because Poe wrote on both. (Loyd again)
Because there is a B in both and an N in neither. (Get it? Aldous Huxley, 1928)
Because it slopes with a flap. (Cyril Pearson, undated)

but it was genuinely never meant to have an answer in the first place!

Answer 4

Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!

Answer 5

because on a writing desk you write and let your imagination fly like a raven?
LOL i crack myself up! I'm so bad at this sort of thing!
Sorry it's a crap attempt but I tried!

Answer 6

Two possible answers are:
Because they both come with inky quills, and
Because Poe wrote on both.

There are more answers at http://virtual.park.uga.edu/eng3k/spring01/materials/raven_riddle.html
but frankly I think they're all a bit stupid!