16
$\begingroup$

I have arms but they cannot move,

I breathe what you cannot,

The strongest man cannot break me,

But he and others break parts of me,

What am I?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Remember to accept if it is correct! :D $\endgroup$
    – NL628
    Apr 9, 2018 at 21:27

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
26
$\begingroup$

I would guess

trees.

I have arms but they cannot move,

branches of a tree

I breathe what you cannot,

trees breathe carbon dioxide

The strongest man cannot break me,

hard to uproot a tree, especially if there is a thick trunk

But he and others and break parts of me,

leaves, branches, fruit, etc.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ HNQ is a strange thing... I logged on and saw +120 rep and thought it was because I registered on a new site or something $\endgroup$
    – Quintec
    Mar 7, 2018 at 0:22
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Tree branches can move and one man could break even the strongest tree. $\endgroup$
    – SwiftPanda
    Mar 7, 2018 at 0:46
  • $\begingroup$ @SwiftPanda it seems to fit the riddle the best - would you not agree? (were you the downvoter?) $\endgroup$
    – Quintec
    Mar 7, 2018 at 2:16
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I agree it fits well but is not robust for all clues as I explicitly pointed out. If you're answer is accepted I will remove my downvote and move it to the riddle. 1/17 votes being down is nothing to sweat or retaliate over. $\endgroup$
    – SwiftPanda
    Mar 7, 2018 at 2:21
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @SwiftPanda was just wondering why, don't really care about the downvote. it's your opinion, after all. $\endgroup$
    – Quintec
    Mar 7, 2018 at 2:23
5
$\begingroup$

The milky way

I have arms but they cannot move,

The milky way's spirals are referred to as arms

I breathe what you cannot,

Most of the galaxay is a vacuum, we can not breath

The strongest man cannot break me,

You can not independently break the whole galaxy

But he and others break parts of me,

Anyone who breaks anything is breaking a part of the milky way

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I would believe the object of your answer does not “breathe“ $\endgroup$
    – Orphevs
    Mar 11, 2018 at 14:46
3
$\begingroup$

Is it a

Tank?

I have arms but they cannot move,

A tank has arms (fire-arms) a.k.a weapons.

I breathe what you cannot,

Breathe gasoline?

The strongest man cannot break me,

No one man can break a tank

But he and others break parts of me,

A guys can use a weapon (bazooka?) to punch a hole in it.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
$\begingroup$

Here's another one of my longshots. Are you

An Airplane?

I have arms but they cannot move

Airplane wings looks like the arms, yet they don't move.

I breathe what you cannot

Due to the high altitude of where the plane can fly, maybe?

The strongest man cannot break me

One man alone won't be able to break a whole airplane.

But he and others break parts of me

More than 1 person grouped can basically break it into parts..

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ No, but the last one isn't very specific the last part. $\endgroup$
    – Gabrielle
    Mar 12, 2018 at 20:57
3
$\begingroup$

Neurons in the brain

I have arms but they cannot move,

Neurons never move it's axons or dendrites, they need to grow new ones every time to make new synapsis

I breathe what you cannot,

Information. We need air to remain alive, and although we could resist some time without it, in the end we would just die. When neurons are not stimulated with new information enough throughout their lives, they got not much else to do other than just die off. As explained in goo.gl/yByQva

The strongest man cannot break me,

In a game of chess for example, you can be the strongest man out there, but if you don't know playing chess, you don't beat your opponent, or "break" their intelligence (neurons(synapsis))

But he and others break parts of me,

The allegory of the cave, or Plato's cave, shows as an example of how what's commonly accepted by everyone as the truth, might not be it. So a group of people may not reason your sayings, and they may condemm you (call you crazy), depriving you from thinking too much, thus hurting your neurons, which won't get much stimulated anymore

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ No, its not really close, but, ya its not correct try again. $\endgroup$
    – Gabrielle
    Mar 12, 2018 at 20:55

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.