7
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I stalk number 2
Not centre of attention
Nobody loves me

Kind of Nazism
But not against religions
They try to save me

Who am I?

Hint:

Like I said in an earlier comment, Nazism doesn't involve real Nazis in this riddle. The entire second stanza is about the "Nazis".


Still no one can solve this, and I almost forgot the answer, so here is an extra verse:

Profesional at
Being a noun. Well, sort of.
The great pretender.


Come on, guys! I am going to get someone to find the correct answer here somehow! It's been 5, almost 6, months since I originally posted this! I will give the winner a cookie emoji! 🍪

So here is another hint:

Whoever it is, it’s missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....


Extra (?) hint, or rather a clarification of an unintentional grammatical mistake that has been influencing people’s answers like some weird mind virus:

No, it wasn’t the lack of a contraction. Think of something else...

Improve this question
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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Nice haiku style. $\endgroup$
    – mkinson
    Commented Feb 6, 2017 at 19:01
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Any chance for a hint? $\endgroup$
    – alfreema
    Commented Feb 12, 2017 at 2:18

15 Answers 15

Reset to default
6
+50
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Is it

WHOM / WHOMEVER?

About the "Whoever it is..." hint:

It should be "Whomever it is...", as it's the object of that clause; think of it as "it is whomever".

I'm skeptical of this answer, though, because I feel like there's no way to get to my answer without this hint.

Other answers have basically solved the rest of the hints, but I'll reiterate.

I stalk number 2 Not centre of attention Nobody loves me

"stalk number 2" -> follow "to" -> object (as opposed to subject), e.g. "to whom does this puzzle refer?".
Not centre of attention -> not the subject, i.e. not "who".

Kind of Nazism But not against religions They try to save me

referring to "grammar nazis", who are often the only people who differentiate correctly between "who" and "whom".

The "Professional" hint:

refers to "PRO NOUNS". "Whom" is indeed a pronoun.

Improve this answer
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7
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ FWIW, if this turns out to be right, I'll add citations to those I stole ideas from. $\endgroup$
    – kayzeroshort
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 23:40
  • $\begingroup$ I like this. Great analysis. Let's hope its right. I've been thinking about this puzzle for days. $\endgroup$
    – avenger12
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 1:55
  • $\begingroup$ I really like this one, so i hope this is right $\endgroup$
    – Brisingr
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 17:36
  • $\begingroup$ YOU DID IT!!!! YAY!!!!! :D $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:55
  • $\begingroup$ 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:56
9
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So this is too obvious and therefore wrong but ...

The number 3.

Breakdown

3 follows 2 (stalks)

The 3rd wheel is not the center of attention

Because 3 is a crowd

Third Reich

Are lines 5 and 6 a reference to the Holy Trinity? Seems dubious.

Improve this answer
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3
  • $\begingroup$ I think the religion line how more to do with how your number is special in different religions $\endgroup$
    – Xylius
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 6:54
  • $\begingroup$ Not sure if this helps, but the Om symbol in Hinduism may have something to do with this (based on how it looks)? $\endgroup$
    – Green
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 18:27
  • $\begingroup$ It is too obvious to be the right answer, and it isn't the right answer. Nice try, though. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 1:24
7
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Update:

(working off OP's comment)

Are you maybe a

pronoun?

With my reasoning being:

Pronouns are rarely the center of attention, and they're not much loved. Don't know what "number 2" refers to, though, or the stalking.

Like my original answer, this works with haiku 2 and hint 1.

Hint 2

is what got me thinking pronoun - "professional" + "noun" would be a "pro noun", and pronouns could definitely be called sort-of or "pretender" nouns!

And the last hint

I'm just stumped on, because "whoever" and "it" are both pronouns, so they're not missing from the sentence...! So maybe I'm just on the wrong track altogether now?

Original guess:

I cannot get all of the clues here, but I am guessing that you are...

an apostrophe? and perhaps more specifically, the apostrophe in the word it's?

I stalk number 2

Not centre of attention

Nobody loves me

This would fit if you are specifically the apostrophe in it's - you stalk the second letter of the word (t), you are not the center of attention (nor are you the center of the word), and people always abandon you (or put you in words where you do not belong, but that is another story...!)

Kind of Nazism

But not against religions

They try to save me

"Grammar Nazis", who are referred to as Nazis but have nothing against any religion, try to "save" the apostrophe

Hint 2:

Professional at / Being a noun. Well, sort of. / The great pretender.

My answer:

This is the one I am not sure about. The word "apostrophe" itself is a noun, so I do not understand the part about being a pretender...

Hint 3:

Whoever it is, it is missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....

My answer:

The first sentence does not have an apostrophe in it, and the repeated "it is" feels unnatural to the reader. (The second sentence does have an apostrophe - in "can't"!)

Improve this answer
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6
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You almost have it!!! You've correctly guessed what kind of Nazis the Nazis are, and the general idea is good, but this is not the answer. There's something that fits all the clues much better. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 1:36
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You are even closer now!!!!! You just have to work a bit harder! Come on, don't you want all those cookies in the bounty description? :P $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 12:12
  • $\begingroup$ I want the cookies, I want the cookies! I'll keep thinking... $\endgroup$
    – puzzledPig
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 15:44
  • $\begingroup$ Am I on the right track with my second guess - that is, is it a specific pronoun, or do I need to back up a step? I'm looking at @avenger12 's answer and trying to work it in with mine, but I'm getting stuck... $\endgroup$
    – puzzledPig
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 23:09
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You are on the right track with your second guess. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 23:18
5
$\begingroup$

Is it

the letter O?

Breakdown:

It's on the tail of (“stalks”) the number ”two”. It's not N, which is the center of “attention”. The word “nobody” “loves” O's enough to have two of them. “Religions” also contains the letter O. The one part that doesn't fit is “Nazism”.

Improve this answer
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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Nazism was an extreme form of "socialism", which has an "o" in it. Bit of a stretch, though, perhaps. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 12:06
  • $\begingroup$ Nice interpretation of letter usage; however, this is not the answer. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 1:23
4
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"1 is the loneliest number that you'll ever do..."

I stalk number 2

1 is either in front of or behind 2, depending on your perspective.

Not centre of attention Nobody loves me

1 is all alone, nobody loves it. It doesn't get nearly as much attention as, say, π, because it's too simple to be interesting.

Kind of Nazism

I believe the relation to Nazism may be referring to Neo-Nazism, but this gives me pause because Neo refers to the Greek neos or new, not one. Unless it's an anagram... or The Matrix.

But not against religions They try to save me

Organized religion is trying to save mono(one)theism, the belief in one eternal, omniscient being.

Improve this answer
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3
  • $\begingroup$ Nobody loves it? 1 is the foundation of all mathematics, for most people, along with 0! (Except for set theorists, who use the empty set) $\endgroup$
    – boboquack
    Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 9:52
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ When 1 has its own holiday, we can come back to this counterargument. 1 is Dennis Ritchie to π's Steve Jobs. Except π is actually pretty interesting, and generally not a fan of black turtlenecks. So I hear. $\endgroup$
    – AMischievousRaccoon
    Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 10:20
  • $\begingroup$ Nice use of numerical progression; however, this is not the right answer. Nazism doesn't actually involve Nazis here... $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 19:05
4
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I believe the answer falls into the category of:

Dual Indefinite Pronouns (i.e. "neither", "both", "either")

refer to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_pronoun

More specifically, I think the answer is:

Neither

Rationale:

Stanza 1
- I stalk number 2 - Dual Indefinite Pronouns only apply to situations where there are two objects/subjects
- Not centre of attention - 'nor' is the center of attention when 'neither' is present
- Nobody loves me - Nobody loves neither. Also, both 'nobody' and 'neither' are negative indefinite pronouns, except 'nobody' is singular and 'neither' is dual

Stanza 2 - Kind of Nazism, But not against religions, They try to save me - Grammar nazis try to save "neither" from being replaced by "either" when speaking from a negative perspective

Hint 1
More evidence that it has something to do with grammar nazis

Extra Verse Hint
Suggests that it is an Indefinite Pronoun of some sort. Pro + noun = pronoun. Pretend pronoun = indefinite pronoun, since it is used in place of a real pronoun

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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I never knew there was a word for these words! :P It’s an interesting sidetrack from following the two answers I indirectly recommended, but still not the right answer. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 21:00
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I like this answer. Really nice job. Too bad its not correct. $\endgroup$
    – avenger12
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 23:09
4
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Ok this is a bit out there but here goes nothing.

Is it:

an indirect object?

I stalk number two

Indirect objects usually come between a verb and the direct object, and when I see the word direct object I notice the letters "di" like in dichotomy. I've heard many English teachers say that you cannot have an indirect object without a direct object. Hence by introducing an direct object the indirect object will "follow" along. (I realize that in reality however, the indirect object comes between the verb and the direct object.

Not centre of attention

According to dictionary.com, indirect is defined as "not coming as a direct effect or consequence". This seems to be a good fit as not being the center of attention (such as in phrases "indirectly related").

Nobody loves me

Not exactly sure how it fits with this one.

Kind of Nazism But not against religions They try to save me

Definitely sounds like "Grammar Nazis". Indirect objects are part of grammatical education. So I assume that this is a clue to alert this type of Nazism is related to actual Nazis as the OP pointed out. Definitely sounds like "Grammar Nazis".

Profesional at Being a noun. Well, sort of. The great pretender.

Nouns can sometimes function as indirect objects, but not all sentences have them.

Whoever it is, it is missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....

"Wrong" was italicized here, so I assumed it was another hint indirectly. No pun intended with regard to my answer haha. When I think of something being "wrong somehow", I think of the word object as in legal terms ("I object to this statement.") and the word object is present in the phrase direct/indirect object.

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3
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ First of all, welcome to Puzzling! Second of all, you are SO SO SOO close!!! The answer is indirectly answered here </pun>, but you have to be a bit more specific than that. There's another answer here that I would recommend reading more carefully. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 21:42
  • $\begingroup$ Even if I don't get this right, I must say that this was an excellent puzzle. I look forward to more of these from you. $\endgroup$
    – avenger12
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 2:01
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! This puzzle has just been solved, so maybe tomorrow or the day after, I'll create a new one for everyone to solve. :D $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:57
2
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Is the answer

Grammar?

I stalk number 2

Not sure about this one

Not center of attention

Most people don't really pay attention their Grammar anymore, it isn't the focal point of much informal writing.

Nobody loves me

Most can agree that any Grammar slip ups can be pretty annoying. Grammar itself can be complicated and tedious to learn, therefore not very well loved.

Kind of Nazism But not against religions They try to save me

Grammar Nazism is the manifestation of a Grammar Nazi, someone who always uses writes grammar. It isn't against religion, and these Grammar Nazis are trying to preserve Grammar in a world where its importance is being under-mimed.

Professional at / Being a noun. Well, sort of. / The great pretender.

The word Grammar itself is a noun.

Whoever it is, it is missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....

Since a word is an inanimate thing, 'Whoever' cannot be used. This is wrong grammar, rather 'Whatever' would fulfill the sentence's purpose. That is why the sentence feels 'wrong', since the word 'whoever' is misplaced there.

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1
  • $\begingroup$ You are on the right track, but it's not grammar itself. There is something that fits the first clue perfectly. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 12:11
2
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The answer most definitely is

articles (a, an, the)
The first two lines a definitely missing the word 'the' which pointed me in this direction. They aren't the center of attention, so not the subject.

The extra verse definitely gives it away

Profesional at
Being a noun. Well, sort of.
The great pretender.




Actually not too sure about the above answer... Id rather say that the answer is

the subject

But. the line saying that its not the center of attention disproves that.

However

Whoever it is, it’s missing from this sentence.

this line doesnt have a direct subject

Profesional at Being a noun. Well, sort of. The great pretender.

A subject is a noun, but studying a sentence gramatically, you would call it the subject, not a noun.

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2
  • $\begingroup$ I thought about subject too, but yeah you're right, the line about not being the center of attention throws you off. $\endgroup$
    – avenger12
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 1:59
  • $\begingroup$ If you feel unsure of an answer, you can always post two answers! They are both nice interpretations of the clues, but, alas, both not the right answer. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:59
2
$\begingroup$

This is based on information from puzzledPig and avenger12's answers, along with the OP's comments on them.

Is it about the infinitive? Or more specifically, the split infinitive? From Wikipedia: a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which a word or phrase comes between the to and the bare infinitive of the to form of the infinitive verb. E.g. I love to freely run.

I feel like it doesn't quite fit all the clues, but so far:

I stalk number 2

The bare infinitive form of a verb follows the word to ("to boldly go") — even if there is a word or phrase between them. The italicised words indicate what traditionally shouldn't be split, or the words that follow each other. (Another example is "I must really hurry" in a similar way as "I need to really hurry".) The title seems to suggest literal numbers though, so it doesn't seem quite right, as the infinitive doesn't necessarily follow a second word/place, or follow numbers.

Not centre of attention Nobody loves me

Not sure how it fits with either of these. The infinitive can be used as the subject of a sentence, so it can be the 'focus' of the sentence, or 'centre of attention'. And split infinitives can result in awkwardly-constructed sentences but not sure that necessarily nobody loves them.

Kind of Nazism But not against religions

As puzzledPig and avenger12 have mentioned and the OP confirmed, it is talking about "Grammar Nazis" who aren't against religions.

They try to save me

Avoiding split infinitives is something that has been advised by 'Grammar Nazis'. See History of the controversy - Wikipedia on the split infinitive.

Hint 2:

Professional at / Being a noun. Well, sort of. / The great pretender.

Answer:

Infinitives can be used as nouns would in sentences — they can function as the subject, object, etc. However, other 'noun-like' grammatical terms come to mind e.g. pronouns, gerunds (verbal nouns), and adjectives & participles fit under substantives too. I'm not sure that the infinitive fits as 'The great pretender'.

Hint 3:

Whoever it is, it's missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....

Answer:

The repeated 'it is' is probably what feels a little off to me... but not too sure Now it's the "whoever it is" part. There isn't an infinitive in that sentence but I don't think it is what's needed.

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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Cool, you figured out what stalking 2 means! :D However, this is not the right answer. I really need to fix that thing with the apostrophe in the hint, since that is not at all what I intended to feel weird. Maybe you’ll be the one who I’ll give the cookies to!! :P $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 20:56
  • $\begingroup$ Oooh hope that helps others too. And haha, I see the edit now for Hint 3 (will update my answer). I actually became really curious about what the answer was, which is why I just joined Puzzling.SE it was for this XD I hope someone gets the cookies soon!! I think @kayzeroshort 's answer seems pretty good to me (it was something I'd considered as well briefly but didn't think that could be it, until I saw their reasoning) $\endgroup$
    – user39525
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 23:20
2
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I believe the answer could be

The homophones there, they're and their

In the first stanza,

The word there is an anagram for three which stalks the number two
The two lines referring to the centre of attention and love, may be referring to the general tendency to mixup these three words and not pay enough attention to the differences between the words

The second stanza refers to:

The fact that the distinction between these three words is of great importance to Grammar Nazis and that they try to 'save' them.

The extra verse:

Working off of puzzledPig's answer, professional noun could refer to pronoun, and they're is a contraction for they are, where they is a pronoun, and also their is the possessive case of the pronoun they.

Extra hint:

"Whoever it is, it’s missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it...."
This sentence can be rewritten as "Whoever it is, they're missing from this sentence", and now in my opinion (and hopefully in the opinion of Grammar Nazis all around), the sentence should now feel grammatically correct, because of the removal of the repetition of it's.

This is my first answer on PSE, so hopefully the formatting and markdown was satisfactory!

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling! The formatting and markdown appears to be satisfactory, and the answer is a nice interpretation of puzzlingPig's answer. However, this is not the right answer. I would recommend studying avenger12's answer. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:45
1
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I go with:

The capitalization of the letter or rather first-person pronoun I.

I stalk number 2

1 comes before 2 and looks like a capital I. Especially in some fonts.

Not centre of attention

No one really cares about the capitalization

Nobody loves me

It can be annyoing to take care of the capitalization. Second hint Nobody/No one

Kind of Nazism
But not against religions

Grammar nazis. Word play with narcism. Self centric

They try to save me

In e-mails and instant message conversations, capitalization conventions are backsliding. But some people still capitalize and are therefore saving the convention.

Whoever it is, it’s missing from this sentence. That sentence just feels wrong somehow without it, but I can't place my finger on it....

Wrong sounds like one. 'I' is missing from the first sentence. Whoever I am,...would sound more natural.

Profesional at Being a noun. Well, sort of. The great pretender.

A noun is capitalized. I isn't really a noun, but still capitalized.

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1
  • $\begingroup$ If I may, I would like to point out that "I" is the first person subject pronoun (Is that how you are supposed to say it? ¯_(ツ)_/¯). I feel like "me" would be a more reasonable when following this, but either way, despite both being good answers, they are both incorrect. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:54
1
$\begingroup$

The answer is

quotes

Explanation:

I stalk number 2 - because quotes are two - ''
Not centre of attention - obviously
Nobody loves me - people try to avoid them (not sure)

Kind of Nazism - grammar nazis avoid them (not sure)
But not against religions - in order not to link the above with real nazis
Kind of Nazism - grammar nazis avoid them (not sure)

Profesional at
Being a noun. Well, sort of. - quotation/quotation mark ?!
The great pretender. - when we put quotes to a word, it means something like that, but not quite (or something like that)

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1
  • $\begingroup$ The hints are a bit shaky, and likewise this is not the correct answer. But nice try! :D $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:48
0
$\begingroup$

well:

gas

because:

- stalk number 2 - when kids going to "number 2"
- not center of attention - it's invisible
- nobody loves me - it stinks
- kind of nazism - they used gas to execute ppl
- but not against religions - it's used these days all around world, no matter nation/religion
- they try to save me - gas is globally running out, so ppl (or green ppl) starting to use other resources

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting solution, but this is not the right answer. $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 13:28
0
$\begingroup$

Disclaimer: I'm so new here that I made an account just for this question. I have no clue how to do spoiler tags. Terribly sorry about that.

Two answers here, according to the original poster, come very close so here's my guess combining them:

An indirect object pronoun?

Improve this answer
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2
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome! :) You can add spoiler tags by typing >! An example: >! Hello world! $\endgroup$
    – avenger12
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 1:56
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling! It is always a good idea to explain your answer, especially in this one since it is literally a combination of two previous answers that I deemed close. Actually, don't post a literal combination. Perhaps you may want to combine the two answers to get a topic, and then, from your own thoughts, get a specific answer. Anyways, good luck, and welcome to Puzzling! :D $\endgroup$
    – You
    Commented Jul 27, 2017 at 20:38

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