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having to complete a series of actions in such an order that each superceding event must be done in one specific order in order to complete a seemingly trivial goal. origin: An almost cliche riddle goes... A farmer for some reason has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. It might be to get into town for some business: you know, to sell his chicken and corn, which I am certain he is going to make a killing off of, being it one sack of corn and a singular chicken. and, oh yeah, his trusty fox. Why is this idiot bringing a fox with him? Anyway, he has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and another of his precious belongings (chicken, corn, fox). If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will invariably eat the chicken. Leave the chicken with the corn and, oops, the chicken will eat the corn. Other than by feeding the fox poison and doing it in one quuck trip, or maybe splurging for the bridge toll and carrying his wares, how does the farmer do it?
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