A riddle

[md65536]

I correspond with danger, but I won't any longer

if you remove a stem I will become stronger

What am I?

Edited August 20, 2011 by md65536

[Daedalus]

A nuclear fission reactor.

[md65536]

A nuclear fission reactor.

Naw.

 

Maybe time for a clue: The meaning of the words danger and stronger, as well as the answer, don't matter. The specific meaning of the words 'stem' and 'correspond' are important.

 

 

[imatfaal]

I was thinking along the line of hazard (corresponds with danger) becoming hard (ie stronger) with the removal of a 'z' - but will have to restart after your clue

[matty]

Dude, this was started in August--when was the answer on the horizon?

 

~suspense is meant for the short term, what'r you doing?

 

 

[md65536]

Dude, this was started in August--when was the answer on the horizon?

 

~suspense is meant for the short term, what'r you doing?

 

 

Blurgh, sorry, thought everyone's forgotten the thread.

It seems that at least it had slipped from my head.

 

 

 

 

Who am I then? Certainly you don't know me.

Find out and what I mean I'll no longer be.

 

I am a word, and I have more than one stem,

It takes some license to remove one of them,

but if I've become stronger (look at me, see that I am)

put back the stem and I'm where I began.

 

In what sense correspondence? Its mention was terse.

It's of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse.

 

 

As riddles go, this one's about fun as cancer

You might roll your eyes when you find out the answer.

Edited October 18, 2011 by md65536

[matty]

Heh, k, I give up.--What are you?

[md65536]

Heh, k, I give up.--What are you?

 

Go on, take a guess! What's there to lose?

I've already given out so many clues:

Meanings of words. Stems, and danger

The riddle is strange, the answer yet stranger

[Guest lab_supplies]

Grenade?

[md65536]

Grenade?

Does a grenade correspond with danger, not in meaning but in terminal sound of the two words?

[Delta1212]

The riddle is strange, the answer yet stranger

This made me laugh. Well done.

[Phi for All]

Got the answer from reading just the OP (well, and the nuclear fission reactor answer ). I missed this when it was posted in August.

 

 

Stranger. Stranger danger, they tell the kids. Remove the stem from the "a" to make an "o" for stronger.

 

[md65536]

Got the answer

 

Correct.

 

It struck me how different the two words sound, yet visually differ by only a little mark (depending on font I guess), so I made a riddle out of it.

 

I looked up the word "rhyme" to make a clue, and it led to "correspond". To get back to rhyme may require a huge leap in lateral thinking, and might not be that good a clue.

Edited February 28, 2012 by md65536

[Phi for All]

Correct.

 

It struck me how different the two words sound, yet visually differ by only a little mark (depending on font I guess), so I made a riddle out of it.

 

I looked up the word "rhyme" to make a clue, and it led to "correspond". To get back to rhyme may require a huge leap in lateral thinking, and might not be that good a clue.

You made that up yourself? Excellent job. I've done a lot of writing in my life but I don't think I've ever made up a riddle. If I did I guess it wasn't worth remembering.

 

Kudos to you, md65536.

 

A little tip, though. It demeans your creative efforts to give out too many hints. If someone gives up, it's not necessarily because your riddle is too hard. And feel free to bump a thread if you think people have forgotten it.