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Never glad, sometimes sad, often good for a laugh
Never kind, sometimes cruel, and if that's not enough
It can taste sweet or bitter, never sour or salty
It's right here in this riddle - but beware, for my clues are quite faulty

Name the thing being described.

A small author's note (no spoilers):

This riddle may be a tricky one, for reasons I'd rather not explain at the moment. If no one gets it I'll eventually add some hints.

Edit: Added an explanation of the trickiness at the bottom of KeyboardWielder's answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ is it a... memory? $\endgroup$
    – I.G. Pascual
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 18:05
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    $\begingroup$ @I.G.Pascual not my intended answer, but I can see how that would make a reasonably good answer, so why don't you post it with an explanation? $\endgroup$
    – user17947
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 18:14

2 Answers 2

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My first thought was:

revenge

... which seems to fit quite well, except for the last line.

On second thought, it might be:

irony

Because:

Irony can be bitter or sweet or sad or cruel, although its often a source of humour as well (good for a laugh), but not in a kind or glad way. And I guess you could say that the riddle is ironic itself?

Author's note added in edit: it's worth mentioning that one of the definitions of irony is (according to Merriam-Webster) "the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning". That is what the "It's right here in this riddle" and "my clues are quite faulty" clues were referring to. Indeed, in this sense, almost all riddles (at least of the sort you see on Puzzling.se) are ironic.

Another thing that makes this riddle tricky is that most people (including me before I researched the subject while creating this riddle) don't actually know the exact definition of irony, and that there are several different types of irony that mean very different things. See here, here and here for more details.

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  • $\begingroup$ I really like the second thought. How do you fit in the second half of the last line though? $\endgroup$
    – Mark Peters
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 21:17
  • $\begingroup$ Yes! Your second suggestion (and the explanation) are correct. $\endgroup$
    – user17947
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 21:44
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Is it

a setback?

Never glad, sometimes sad, often good for a laugh

one can laugh at oneself after some setbacks

Never kind, sometimes cruel, and if that's not enough

some setbacks can be cruel

It can taste sweet or bitter, never sour or salty

not sure about sweet setbacks, but can be bitter; also, since a setback is not as bad as total defeat, no need to be sour

It's right here in this riddle - but beware, for my clues are quite faulty

setback implies you were using faulty logic to address an issue

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice try, but nope, that's not it. $\endgroup$
    – user17947
    Commented May 15, 2016 at 22:40

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