> Password hints are an absolutely ridiculous security measure. Password hints have multiple uses. For identity management and verification systems, it's used as an additional identity check after the password if the host seems to have changed. For password recovery, it's a "need to know" factor you have to pass before you get to the "need to have" of e-mail account access. Since it's trivial to bruteforce, multiple…
You seem to be talking about stuff of the form, "What is my mother's maiden name?"
A password hint is exactly what it says: a hint for what your password was, to help you avoid forgetting it. If your password is "lassie", then your password hint might be something like, "That dog you like from TV." The problem, of course, is that just about any hint that helps you remember your password also helps an attacker guess it.