History Main / MortonsFork

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': When a Corsican asks you with a DeathGlare and a folding knife in his hand whether you like his attractive sister, both "yes" and "no" are wrong answers.

* "WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandThePowerOfTwo"

* One ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' story has a security guard intervene between a very young teenager and a college student, the former accusing the latter of stealing her phone, the latter claiming it's his. The guard resolves the situation by opening the phone and finding a lot of selfies of the teenager taken in revealing clothes and/or provocative poses. The guard then asks the student if he'd rather be taken in by police for theft or for possession of child pornography.

* One ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' story has a security guard intervene between a college student and a very young teenager and a college student, the former accusing the latter of stealing her phone, the latter claiming it's his. The guard resolves the situation by opening the phone and finding a lot of selfies of the teenager taken in revealing clothes and/or provocative poses. The guard then asks the student if he'd rather be taken in by police for theft or for possession of child pornography.

** At the end of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttfiq267eKs Minecraft Girls,]]'', Steve is asked by Creeper-chan and Endergirl which of the two he loves the most. He chooses Endergirl, which causes Creeper-chan to explode on him out of anger. He then rewinds to the decision part and chooses Creeper-chan instead, which causes her to explode on him anyway, only out of love. [[spoiler: He rewinds again and decides to make a run for it, seeing as he'll get exploded either way.]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/NerfNow https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nerf_now_mortons_fork_capture_1.PNG]]]]

* In ''Website/GoAnimate'' [[YouAreGrounded Grounded]] videos, there are times where troublemakers will have the adult of the video demand to know what they have done under threat of punishment. When the troublemakers fess up, they're still punished anyway.

* In Act I of ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'', Elder Price storms out of the District 9 Headquarters in the middle of the night. This leaves his mission companion Elder Cunningham with a choice of either going after Price (which would break the rule about not going out past curfew), or staying put (which would break the rule of not leaving one's mission companion). Either way, Cunningham [[Catch22Dilemma can't follow one rule without breaking the other]], and imagines that he's probably going to get in trouble no matter what he does. [[spoiler:When Cunningham ultimate chooses to go find Price outside, Price accidentally hits Cunningham's TraumaButton by saying he feels "stuck" with Cunningham, sending Cunningham into a funk. This is the start of Cunningham's character development, in which he decides [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight it's better to do what's right than follow the rules]], and resorts to in-universe {{Ass Pull}}s with the Book of Mormon to convince the Ugandans to convert to Mormonism.]][[invoked]]

* At one point in Act I of ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'', Elder Price storms out of the District 9 Headquarters in the middle of the night. This leaves Elder Cunningham with a choice of either going after Price (which would break the mission rule about going out past curfew), or staying put (which would break the mission rule of not leaving one's mission companion). Either way, Cunningham is going to be breaking some sort of rule because [[Catch22Dilemma he can't follow one rule without breaking the other]], and imagines that he's probably going to get in trouble no matter what he does.

A character is presented with two or more options. Either choice results in the same, or similar, unfortunate consequence. The ManyQuestionsFallacy is often a form of this, where a loaded question--"Yes or no, have you stopped beating your wife?"--precludes a "safe" answer. In this case, either answer is an admission of domestic abuse.[[note]]unless you're one of the people who [[TakeAThirdOption use the word "mu"]] to mean "this question can only be answered in a way that conflicts with reality"[[/note]] You could be tricky and say "No, I can't stop if I never started," but if they're willing to attack you with loaded questions, they're more than willing to QuoteMine you and pretend you said "No, I can't stop."

* In ''Website/GoAnimate'' [[YouAreGrounded Grounded]] videos, there are times where troublemakers will have the adult of the video demand to know what they have done under threat of punishment. When the troublemakers fess up, they're still punished anyway.
* The infamous banana question ''WebAnimation/FriendshipIsMagicBitch'', one of the earliest and most beloved ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan animations, involves Princess Celestia as a sadistic tyrant who herds ponies into her palace one by one and ultimately asks them if they like bananas. No matter what they answer, they get exiled to the moon (and [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch called a bitch]]):

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': The Reds and Blues force [[spoiler: Felix]] into one during their final confrontation by shooting a sticky grenade at his [[HardLight energy shield]] then tossing another grenade at his feet. If he drops the heavy shield to get away, the sticky grenade goes off in his face. If he doesn't drop the shield he won't be able to avoid the grenade beside him. He's still trying to think of a way out when the latter scenario kills him.

'''Vegeta''': How '''dare''' you talk about my father like that!

* In Japanese folklore the Kuchisake-onna is a ghost woman with a GlasgowGrin who asks people if they think she's pretty. If they say yes, she slashes them with scissors to look like her, if they say no, she will be insulted and stab them with the scissors. There is a variety of possible [[TakeAThirdOption third options]], depending on who's telling the story: confusing her by turning the question around on her and asking if she thinks ''you're'' pretty, telling her you're late for an appointment (at which point she'll politely apologize and let you be on your way) or simply distracting her with candy have all been referenced as ways to survive such an encounter.

* WebVideo/SarahZ's video essay on the NotLikeOtherGirls trope suggests that ''both'' adhering to it and denying it are paths that get girls ostracized. Girls who at first embraced it did so because they were either shunned by other girls for being nonconforming or because the media they watched associated vapid, shallow conformity with a stereotypical depiction of femininity. However, by ''not'' rejecting that niche, these girls were eventually made fun of anyway and mocked for supposedly seeing themselves as superior to "other/feminine girls" and shallowly conforming to the archetype for attention.

* Creator/GerryConway says [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied the death of Gwen Stacy]] in ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' was meant to be this. Since Spider-Man tried to catch her with his web, the whiplash effect caused her neck to snap, killing her. But he couldn't have swung down to save her in time, and if he did nothing, she would have died when she hit the water anyway. A ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' story has him TakeAThirdOption by jumping off the bridge, catching her, and swinging them both to safety. As is typical of ''What If?'', bad things still result, but Gwen survives.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''