History Main / FumblingTheGauntlet

* In ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' high school JerkJock Chip Jenkins, angry at what he sees as someone moving in on his girl, punches Alex [=MacKay=] in the teeth[[note]]For bonus points, Alex had just endured dental work sans anesthetics that day[[/note]] at the Thuringan Gardens. [=MacKay=], being the product of [[UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar his times]], views this act as the prelude to a duel and announces that his choice of weapon will be cavalry sabres.

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime And Manga]]
* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', [[GenderBender Girl-Ranma]] does this in Shampoo's village by eating the prize that Shampoo was to win. Shampoo challenges 'her'; Ranma defeats Shampoo, and winds up earning a KissOfDeath. It eventually turns out that if Ranma had fought Shampoo in his true male form and won, [[AccidentalMarriage he would have successfully proposed marriage to her]] instead... a pity he didn't learn this until after he'd beaten her a second time.
* In ''LightNovel/KyouKaraMaou'', Yuri [[AccidentalMarriage accidentally proposes]] to Wolfram by striking him across the left cheek. Wolfram is so embarrassed and furious that he throws the tableware to the floor- resulting in Yuri accidentally accepting Wolfram's duel challenge by picking up a knife.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8429437/15/The-Perils-of-Innocence The Perils of Innocence]]'' Dr. Aymler tries to greet a goblin guard outside Gringotts by shaking hands. The guard comments that in goblin culture an outstretched hand would initiate a duel, while nodding is their preferred form of greeting.

** When Tavi first encounters Ambassador Varg of the Cane in ''Academ's Fury'' he sees a guard dealing with the frustrated 9ft tall wolfman being hesitant and trying to defuse the situation calmly. While normally acceptable action for dealing with humans, Tavi realizes if this wolfman is like predators back in his home valley then it is the wrong move. He moves forward, ordering the guards and stares down Varg who is about 4 feet taller and could rip him apart with ease [[spoiler:going so far to put a knife to Varg's throat]] and while terrified won't back down. He also deduces that bowing would be equally dangerous as prostrating could be seen as being prey-like. Instead, he copies Varg's raising of the neck just slightly. Varg is impressed enough to leave until a later time.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

*** On one occasion, a visiting Minbari battle cruiser greeted Babylon 5 in the same manner, and was almost fired upon. It didn't help that the commander in charge of the vessel, Alyt Neroon, [[PoorCommunicationKills refused to explain himself]]. It took the intervention of Ambassador Delenn to avoid hostilities.

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'', Serk Brakkis insults Lars Sturtz's son, Szark, to Lars' face, mocking his (by then in-the-past) penchant for loving duels to the death...and implying that Szark gets off to it. Donovan Deegan then slashes his initials into Serk's pants in response. As it turns out, slicing someone's clothes with a sword constitutes ThrowingDownTheGauntlet thanks to Serk's rule-lawyering.

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

-->'''Homer:''' Why oh why did I slap a man who says '[[DeepSouth suh]]'?!
* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'' at one point takes the Sky Knights to Junko's home, where Piper accidentally bumps into someone. She raises her hands placatingly - and Junko hastens to intervene, because this is how his people challenge each other to a ''fight''.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* Eye-contact is considered a challenge by primates, felines and canids.
** Wild canids that is. One of the things that notably separates domesticated dogs from wolves is that dogs will look a human in the eye.

* ''Creator/NoahAntwiler'' once recounted a tale of the one time he played TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings where his ignorance of the setting's customs (and the other players' unwillingness to explain them) led to him being challenged to a duel that he promptly lost.

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Homer discovers that he can get his way in all sorts of situations simply by ThrowingDownTheGauntlet, and starts doing so left, right and centre not expecting it to be picked up. Then he tries it with a SouthernGentleman...

* In ''{{Karateka}}'', ''don't'' [[spoiler: approach Princess Mariko in fighting stance]]. [[NonstandardGameOver Just don't]].

* The war with the buggers in ''Literature/EndersGame'' started because of this. It is not uncommon for for them to kill others of their kind to send a message; as they are a HiveMind, the life of any one individual is meaningless to them. When they first made contact with a human spaceship, they killed everyone on board, under the same reasoning. Humans took this as an act of aggression.

--> --''Series/{{Firefly}}'', "Shindig"

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Shindig": Mal hauls off and decks Atherton Wing after the latter hits the former's BerserkButton by implying that Inara is a whore (only Mal gets to call her that). Turns out that punching someone in a social function on that planet is considered a formal challenge, and Mal ends up having to fight a sword duel over her honor. Use of a swhat?

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Shindig": Mal hauls off and decks Atherton Wing after the latter hits the former's BerserkButton by implying that Inara is a whore (only Mal gets to call her that). Turns out that punching someone in a social function on that planet is considered a formal challenge, and Mal ends up having to fight a sword duel over her honor.

* The war with the buggers in EndersGame started because of this. It is not uncommon for for them to kill others of their kind to send a message; as they are a HiveMind, the life of any one individual is meaningless to them. When they first made contact with a human spaceship, they killed everyone on board, under the same reasoning. Humans took this as an act of aggression.

* ''Creator/NoahAntwiler'' once recounted a tale of the one time he played LegendOfTheFiveRings where his ignorance of the setting's customs (and the other players' unwillingness to explain them) led to him being challenged to a duel that he promptly lost.

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy, Johnny bumps into an alien. Trying to look harmless, he shows his empty hands and smiles. The alien returns the gesture... spreading her claws and showing off her teeth. Also, several of Pratchett's books contain a point of advice: Never grin at an orangutan.

* In the ''{{Starfire}}'' series by DavidWeber, the Orions consider a toothy smile a challenge. There is also an inversion where a person mistakes an Orion's toothy smile for a friendly gesture.

* The same happens in a ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' story, by PiersAnthony. Dor meets a giant spider, and tries a "hug" gesture to show friendship. The spider thinks he is readying his fangs.

* In ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' high school jock Chip Jenkins, angry at what he sees as someone moving in on his girl, punches Alex Mackay in the teeth at the Thuringan Gardens. [=MacKay=], being the product of [[UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar his times]], views this act as the prelude to a duel and announces that his choice of weapon will be cavalry sabres.

* In ''DominicDeegan'', Serk Brakkis insults Lars Sturtz's son, Szark, to Lars' face, mocking his (by then in-the-past) penchant for loving duels to the death...and implying that Szark gets off to it. Donovan Deegan then slashes his initials into Serk's pants in response. As it turns out, slicing someone's clothes with a sword constitutes ThrowingDownTheGauntlet thanks to Serk's rule-lawyering.

* One of the characters in ''Literature/{{Timeline}}'' does the opposite. An opponent throws down the gauntlet to show his contempt, but our hero apparently didn't know that picking it back up meant he accepted. [[FridgeLogic Even though he was an archeology student recruited for his knowledge of history.]]
** In his defense, he's an archaeology student who specializes in ''buildings'', not social norms, and he was also kind of sub-par because he was more interested in macking on French ladies than studying.

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* In ''DominicDeegan'', Serk Brakkis insults Lars Sturtz's son, Szark, to Lars' face, mocking his (by then in-the-past) penchant for loving duels to the death...and implying that Szark gets off to it. Donovan Deegan then slashes his initials into Serk's pants in response. As it turns out, slicing someone's clothes with a sword constitutes ThrowingDownTheGauntlet thanks to Serk's rule-lawyering.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShadowKeep'', entering the titular fortress while wielding a weapon would cause the guards to treat you as hostile (i.e. kill you.)
* In ''{{Karateka}}'', ''don't'' [[spoiler: approach Princess Mariko in fighting stance]]. [[NonstandardGameOver Just don't]].
[[/folder]]

* ''StarTrekEnterprise'' has a group of aliens storm out of a diplomatic meeting in rage, with the crew having no idea what pissed them off. Ultimately, they have to go track them down to figure out how to get rid of some AlienKudzu; it turns out that their offense was ''eating'' where the aliens could see it, something that is extremely private in their culture. Hoshi is able to gain their forgiveness and assistance in the end.

* In ''KyouKaraMaou'', Yuri [[AccidentalMarriage accidentally proposes]] to Wolfram by striking him across the left cheek. Wolfram is so embarrassed and furious that he throws the tableware to the floor- resulting in Yuri accidentally accepting Wolfram's duel challenge by picking up a knife.

* * The war with the buggers in EndersGame started because of this. It is not uncommon for for them to kill others of their kind to send a message; as they are a HiveMind, the life of any one individual is meaningless to them. When they first made contact with a human spaceship, they killed everyone on board, under the same reasoning. Humans took this as an act of aggression.

* Touching hair was considered a grave insult in Fiji that merits mortal retaliation (and worse) before the encounter with the Europeans, especially the hair of a chief. Several early European visitors to the island found this out the hard way (especially Reverend Thomas Baker, an English missionary).

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy, Johnny bumps into an alien. Trying to look harmless, he shows his empty hands and smiles. The alien returns the gesture... spreading his claws and showing off his teeth. Also, several of Pratchett's books contain a point of advice: Never grin at an orangutan.