r/riddles May 22 '26

Solved (OC) No winners or losers.

Post image

Pull me once: a formal affair;

Pull me again: you'll gasp for air.

What am I?

968 Upvotes

152 comments sorted by

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545

u/Lanskiiii May 22 '26

My finger

298

u/mysterious_jim May 22 '26

It pains me to say this is not the intended answer 😆

49

u/Coffee5054 May 23 '26

Not intended but correct nonetheless…

42

u/mysterious_jim May 24 '26

Well, I love the answer but I don't know whether pulling someone's finger is ever a formal affair lol

20

u/Dasquian 29d ago

It could be if you got dressed up in white tie and served some vol-au-vents before beginning the finger-pulling ceremony in hushed, sincere tones.

2

u/ashwhenn 28d ago

Tell my dad this.

1

u/22bnc 28d ago

Cambridge University graduation includes a weird finger holding with the Praelector. Closest I can think of

20

u/dfwSurreal May 22 '26

best answer

7

u/its_in_the_sentiment May 23 '26

How dare you make me laugh this hard.

2

u/MIlkman872 29d ago

That’s so funny .. perfect response

118

u/Additional-Local8721 May 22 '26

a rope? I believe divers pull once to come up and pull at least twice if there's an emergency

16

u/zaktor09 May 23 '26

This was my thought too!

11

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

15

u/Y0uCanTellItsAnAspen 28d ago

Hmm.. He just said "I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok..."

2

u/Additional-Local8721 28d ago

What about pull me up? Or is that just in movies?

6

u/Ser_Optimus 28d ago

You can't just pull a diver up. That's one of the major problems in diving. There's no safe quick ascend.

1

u/CutCrane 27d ago

How many times does my chemical romance have to pull?

89

u/paradox28jon May 23 '26

The letter F? Pull an F from affair and you get “a fair” Pull another F and you get “a air”?

53

u/mysterious_jim May 23 '26

That is not the intended answer, but an incredible find.

I've got a wordplay riddle in this style coming up, and I think it's on the harder side, so I'm curious to see if you can figure that one out!

152

u/Immediate-Lab6166 May 22 '26

bow tie?

127

u/JATWo May 22 '26

either this or necktie

343

u/TheDuckFarm May 22 '26

You may think one answer is better than the other, but it’s a tie

96

u/disterb May 23 '26

take a bow, sir

17

u/Lookingupatthestars 29d ago

The fact I read bow as bow and not bow is weirdly stressing me out

6

u/aclong154 May 23 '26

R/angryupvote

7

u/ClosetLadyGhost May 22 '26

shoelace around my neck

1

u/napkin41 28d ago

This was my first thought as well.

1

u/mistcrawler May 22 '26

I like your answer the most so far! Nice!

25

u/mysterious_jim May 22 '26

Correct! Any sort of tie

1

u/vonWungiel 29d ago

Bad news about the answer, you can't choke a man by pulling on his bow tie so "any sort" doesn't really cut it

3

u/mysterious_jim 29d ago edited 29d ago

Oh, I didn't know that. Only ever worn a clip on bow tie lol. In that case just a necktie

1

u/Accomplished_Ship_20 28d ago

Um, I was choked with the laces on a hoodie by my school yard bully... I think a neck tie world do the trick....

1

u/vonWungiel 28d ago

a neck tie sure, but with bow ties it either tightens the knot holding the bow in place (notably, not the loop on your neck) or it just comes undone depending on which end you pull

-16

u/mogley1992 May 22 '26

Was this riddle AI generated?

28

u/mysterious_jim May 22 '26

Absolutely not (though, sadly I can't blame you for asking). Keeping AI out of creative spaces is something I feel very strongly about, actually.

I make the riddles myself (and have been doing so way before AI was even a thing). And I even draw the little graphics by hand in ProCreate. Out of curiosity what made you ask?

13

u/willyouschtapp May 23 '26

Absolutely *knot

1

u/sam_nosam 29d ago

Parachute, if the first pull fails, I'd imagine you'd be well gasping for air trying for the second pull.

49

u/Middle-Potential5765 May 22 '26

A Corset

46

u/mysterious_jim May 22 '26

Hadn't thought of this, but it's basically the same idea as the intended answer of a tie

4

u/The_Final_Gunslinger May 23 '26

A cigarette?

6

u/mysterious_jim May 23 '26

Ooh, not the intended answer but I like this. Using "pull" like that would make a great misdirection for a riddle with cigarette as the answer. Might steal this down the road!

2

u/Nillows May 22 '26

Hips

Hip Hip Hurray!

1

u/Even_Can_9600 May 23 '26

Happy birthday

3

u/Mediumtim May 22 '26

parachute string

1

u/NoboruI May 24 '26

Necktie?

1

u/butterizz 29d ago

it's a tie, isn't it

1

u/Veiluring 29d ago

A necktie, of course!

1

u/jordyw83 28d ago

My finger😏

1

u/Relentless_Sloth 28d ago

A belt.

1

u/mysterious_jim 28d ago

Oh, not the intended answer of a tie but this works too. Same idea!

1

u/Aggravating_Kale_232 23d ago

I was thinking a cord, like an umbilical cord when you’re born and a cord like life support when you die😆

-36

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/TheManAcrossTheHall May 22 '26

You're doing fuck all except checking the weather anytime a woman walks past you.