History Main / MortonsFork

* From Eminem's "Kill You"

* From Eminem's "Kill you"

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/ImaginarySeas'', Percy realizes that dismantling the Lostbelt as he is summoned to do will inevitably kill the countless people who lived in in it, while not acting will inevitably kill the countless people who died when the Lostbelts were created. As someone who doesn't like killing people in general, this weighs heavily on him.
[[/folder]]

A character is presented with two options. Either choice results in the same, or similar, unfortunate consequence. The ManyQuestionsFallacy is often a form of this, where a loaded question ("Have you stopped beating your wife lately?") precludes a "safe" answer[[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]] (since, in this case, by denying to answer the question, you are essentially admitting that suspicions about you beating your wife are legitimate).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

The name comes from the tax-collecting practices of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor under [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor Henry VII]]. He reasoned that anyone who was living extravagantly was rich, and so could afford high taxes, whereas anyone who was living frugally had saved a lot, and so could afford high taxes. Bear in mind before you get ''too'' crazy that this was typically used to keep people known to be well-off from trying to weasel their way out of paying; he wasn't exactly trying to collect from peasants in hovels. Instead, he was trying to get around a then-common excuse for not paying taxes (that is, not having any money to do so) by discounting the proofs used to support the excuse (actual profligacy and feigned poverty).[[note]]The basic rule lives on: if you're going to say that you don't have the money to pay your taxes, you'll have to open your books to the government — simply ''saying'' "I spent it all on junk" or "Look, I'm living on the cheap, clearly I'm poor" won't cut it. Sometimes the [[IntimidatingRevenueService tax authorities]] will settle, but more often they'll just put a lien on what you do have so that if you sell anything, they can collect the proceeds. This is a lot easier today, what with electronic payment systems being common; obviously, it was much harder in Morton's day.[[/note]]

* In the radio adaptation of ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', the Demon King Astfgl asks one of his minions if it knows why Astfgl is so angry. "Is it, perhaps, because I'm SurroundedByIdiots?" The junior demon stutters a reply, realising that it can either deny its lord's evident anger, or admit that Astfgl is, in fact, surrounded by idiots.

A character is presented two alternatives, A and B. If the character chooses A, then something bad happens. If they choose B, a similar or identical bad thing happens--but for a different reason. The ManyQuestionsFallacy is often a form of this, where a loaded question ("Have you stopped beating your wife lately?") precludes a "safe" answer[[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]] (since, in this case, by denying to answer the question, you are essentially admitting that suspicions about you beating your wife are legitimate).

Compare XanatosGambit, where this is weaponized in a specific type of [[ThePlan plan]] and often used by TheChessmaster. See also SadisticChoice, which similarly forces characters to choose between two untenable choices, except that each leads to a different undesirable outcome. Characters often attempt to TakeAThirdOption in response, with varying degrees of success. They may instead pick one to GetItOverWith. If the fork is deliberately placed into a test, this is UnwinnableTrainingSimulation. Can be the outcome of a TrialByOrdeal, especially those involving witchcraft, where some ordeals were made to be deadly for innocents, the survivors, being deemed culprits and ending [[BurhThewitch burnt on the stake]].

Compare XanatosGambit, where this is weaponized in a specific type of [[ThePlan plan]] and often used by TheChessmaster. See also SadisticChoice, which similarly forces characters to choose between two untenable choices, except that each leads to a different undesirable outcome. Characters often attempt to TakeAThirdOption in response, with varying degrees of success. They may instead pick one to GetItOverWith. If the fork is deliberately placed into a test, this is UnwinnableTrainingSimulation.

Remember, it's only a Morton's Fork if both choices lead to basically the ''same'' outcome. It isn't enough just to be given a choice between two bad options. If you're offered a choice between a bad option and a worse one, that's probably TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay. If the choice is deceptive—and the option that seems less bad is actually worse—that's TheWindowOrTheStairs. Subtrope of FailureIsTheOnlyOption.

* In the 2015 reboot of ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', Opus is conscripted into being a Presidential candidate, which he does not want. In the strip [[http://www.gocomics.com/bloom-county/2015/09/29 seen here]], a government official tells him he can't withdraw his candidacy, except by reason of insanity. When Opus tries that, the guy makes him swear he does ''not'' want to be President — which means he's clearly sane, and thus cannot withdraw.

[[folder:Audio Play

* Arj Barker describes his time working at a hospital as one of these. It's impossible to take a sick day because if you call in sick, they'll just tell you to come in anyway because ''they're a hospital''. If you then try to weasel out of it by saying you don't aren't sick enough that you need to go to the hospital, well then you're obviously not sick enough to need to take the day off work either, are you?

'''Proctor:''' And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you thought of that?

The name comes from the tax-collecting practices of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor under [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor Henry VII]]. He reasoned that anyone who was living extravagantly was rich, and so could afford high taxes, whereas anyone who was living frugally had saved a lot, and so could afford high taxes. Bear in mind before you get ''too'' crazy that this was typically used to keep people well-known to be well-off anyways from trying to weasel their way out of paying; he wasn't exactly trying to collect from peasants in hovels. Instead, he was trying to get around a then-common excuse for not paying taxes (that is, not having any money to do so) by discounting the proofs used to support the excuse (actual profligacy and feigned poverty).[[note]]The basic rule lives on: if you're going to say that you don't have the money to pay your taxes, you'll have to open your books to the government—simply ''saying'' "I spent it all on junk" or "Look, I'm living on the cheap, clearly I'm poor" won't cut it. Sometimes the [[IntimidatingRevenueService tax authorities]] will settle, but more often they'll just put a lien on what you do have so that if you sell anything, they can collect the proceeds. This is a lot easier today, what with electronic payment systems being common; obviously, it was much harder in Morton's day.[[/note]]

--> '''Man''': I'm going to start trimming my nasal hair.
--> '''Woman''': Ewww!
--> '''Man''': Okay, so I'm not going to trim my nasal hair.
--> '''Woman''': Ewww!
* In the 2015 reboot of ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', Opus is conscripted into being a Presidential candidate, which he does not want. In the strip [[http://www.gocomics.com/bloom-county/2015/09/29 seen here]], a government official tells him he can't withdraw his candidacy, except by reason of insanity. When Opus tries that, the guy makes him swear he does ''not'' want to be President—which means he's clearly sane, and thus cannot withdraw. (The joke being, Opus has to be insane to withdraw from his candidacy for a position he'd clearly have to be insane to even ''want''.)

* ''ComicStrip/NonSequitur'' had one comic were a lawyer is stumped when he comes to a fork in the road where [[ToBeLawfulOrGood the sign pointing one way says "legal" and the sign pointing the other way says "ethical"]].
* In an arc of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strips, Charlie Brown and his family are going on vacation, and Snoopy can either stay in a kennel, or with Lucy. Snoopy's reaction to both suggestions is '''"AUUGHH!"'''. (Eventually, he takes the latter.)

-->'''Mr Gallagher''': If you ''were'' the Doctor I was after, I'd let Mick take you outside and indulge his ... homicidal tendencies.\\

'''Doctor''': But as I'm clearly the victim of a case of mistaken identity... \\
'''Gallagher''': You give me something of a problem. A problem with one very ... obvious solution.\\
'''Doctor''': A solution which involves Mick taking me outside... \\

-->'''Hale:''' I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others that have confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have confessed it.
-->'''Proctor:''' And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you thought of that?

A character is presented two alternatives, A and B. If the character chooses A, then something bad happens. If they choose B, a similar or identical bad thing happens -- but for a different reason. The ManyQuestionsFallacy is often a form of this, where a loaded question ("Have you stopped beating your wife lately?") precludes a "safe" answer[[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]] (since, in this case, by denying to answer the question, you are essentially admitting that suspicions about you beating your wife are legitimate).

The name comes from the tax-collecting practices of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor under [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor Henry VII]]. He reasoned that anyone who was living extravagantly was rich, and so could afford high taxes, whereas anyone who was living frugally had saved a lot, and so could afford high taxes. Bear in mind before you get ''too'' crazy that this was typically used to keep people well-known to be well-off anyways from trying to weasel their way out of paying; he wasn't exactly trying to collect from peasants in hovels. Instead, he was trying to get around a then-common excuse for not paying taxes (that is, not having any money to do so) by discounting the proofs used to support the excuse (actual profligacy and feigned poverty).[[note]]The basic rule lives on: if you're going to say that you don't have the money to pay your taxes, you'll have to open your books to the government — simply ''saying'' "I spent it all on junk" or "Look, I'm living on the cheap, clearly I'm poor" won't cut it. Sometimes the [[IntimidatingRevenueService tax authorities]] will settle, but more often they'll just put a lien on what you do have so that if you sell anything, they can collect the proceeds. This is a lot easier today, what with electronic payment systems being common; obviously, it was much harder in Morton's day.[[/note]]

This is often confused with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson%27s_choice Hobson's choice.]] Thomas Hobson — who lived about half a century after Morton — leased horses, and, having noticed that, given a real choice, his customers tended to pick the same horses over and over again, leaving them seriously over-used while leaving others almost completely unexercised, he had customers automatically assigned the one nearest the door rather than let them pick, so all the horses would be used and exercised equally. The customer's choice was "Take it (the horse assigned) or leave it (don't get any horse)." A Hobson's choice is a false choice because there's only one real option if you're in need of the thing being offered. A Morton's Fork is a false choice because both options have the same or equally undesirable results.

Contrast SweetAndSourGrapes, wherein a good outcome occurs regardless of the choice made. Not to be confused with ButThouMust, where you have only one choice forced upon you. Not interchangeable with Catch22Dilemma, where the problem is circular — to achieve one thing you must first do or acquire something else, but to do or acquire ''that'' you must have the first thing.

Remember, it's only a Morton's Fork if both choices lead to basically the ''same'' outcome. It isn't enough just to be given a choice between two bad options. If you're offered a choice between a bad option and a worse one, that's probably TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay. If the choice is deceptive — and the option that seems less bad is actually worse — that's TheWindowOrTheStairs. Subtrope of FailureIsTheOnlyOption.

* An argument in ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' ends up putting Thugboy in one of these - it turns out he slept with his girlfriend Empowered's rival Sistah Spooky a few months before he met her, and she just asked him how they compared. If he says Spooky was better in bed, then that's obviously bad. If he says they're about the same, then that would suggest them to be interchangeable, which is even worse. And as he discovers, if he says Emp is better, then that's implying he stayed with Emp primarily (if not solely) because she was better at sex, since it can't be because she's a really cool and powerful superhero (since Spooky is stronger and more famous). No matter what, she's getting angry.

* In the 2015 reboot of ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', Opus is conscripted into being a Presidential candidate, which he does not want. In the strip [[http://www.gocomics.com/bloom-county/2015/09/29 seen here]], a government official tells him he can't withdraw his candidacy, except by reason of insanity. When Opus tries that, the guy makes him swear he does ''not'' want to be President - which means he's clearly sane, and thus cannot withdraw. (The joke being, Opus has to be insane to withdraw from his candidacy for a position he'd clearly have to be insane to even ''want''.)

* Jean Valjean's IAmSong "Who Am I" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' - "If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent I am damned."

* ''Nathan the Wise'' by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is set in Jerusalem during a ceasefire in the course of the Crusades. Sultan Saladin asks the titular character, a rich Jew famed for his wisdom, which of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is the true religion. If Nathan answered "Judaism", that would of course offend the devout Muslim Saladin, if he answered "Islam", he would reveal himself as a terrible hypocrite, and if he answered "Christianity" he would do both. He gets out of the dilemma by telling the Ring Parable (which Lessing took from Boccaccio), the gist of which is that it beyond human understanding to decide and that the correct answer - known only to God - may even be "none of the above".

[[folder:Web Animation]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* A short [[StylisticSuck parody visual novel]] called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmTwMSKW7RA Fake Novel: Girl Simulator]]'' combines this with UnwinnableJokeGame. It has four girls (all of them [[{{Expy}} expies]] of various girls from anime) that you can choose to talk to. For each girl, you have three choices of how to respond to her. Regardless of which choice you select, she gets mad at you and it's game over. You can also just sit there and do nothing. She'll eventually get mad at you for not answering her and it's game over.
* There's no way to win if [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Sexual-Offender]][[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast man]] offers you [[http://arcanineryu.deviantart.com/art/Sexual-offenderman-Slenderman-variation-328452140 a rose]]. If you touch it, you get raped immediately. If you don't touch it (the course of action that [[DontTouchItYouIdiot many people urge you to take]]), you get a {{gaslighting}} StalkerWithACrush who will eventually [[LuredIntoATrap lure you into an ambush]].
* [[LetsPlay/VanossGamingAndCompany Vanoss]], while playing ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' in VideoGame/GarrysMod with his friends, was hit with a blatantly unfair [[https://youtu.be/P0ppVOZpk1w?t=5m5s final question]]. PlayedForLaughs, of course.
* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VliOGfNCVc one of the videos]] about life in the military by Creator/YushaThomas, [[DrillSergeantNasty Drill Sergeant]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Backbone]] finds a contraband stash above the bunk of Privates Goose and Hill, meaning it can only belong to one or both of them. Backbone singles out Goose and demands to know whether the stash is his. If Goose says yes, he'll be punished for having a contraband stash. If he claims it belonged to Hill, he'll be punished for ratting out his "battle buddy", since they're always supposed to be looking out for each other. Goose isn't clever enough to realize this, tries to claim it belonged to Hill, and is promptly punished with hours of verbal and physical abuse. ([[NotHelpingYourCase Things like inadvertently admitting to having other contraband besides what Backbone found certainly doesn't do him any favors]].)
[[/folder]]

* 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 [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] -- say she looks average, then run away while she's confused.

* In Japanese folklore the Kuchisake-onna is a ghost woman with a GlagowGrin 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 [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] -- say she looks average, then run away while she's confused.

* ComicBook/TwoFace:
** He once declared that if his coin comes scarred side up he'll destroy half the city; if it comes clean side up, [[ExactWords he'll save half the city]]. The coin comes clean side up ... and Two-Face promptly prepares to destroy the ''other'' half of the city.
** Two-Face does this ''a lot,'' usually when both halves of his personality want somebody dead. On one occasion, he had Batman tied to the tails side of a giant penny and intended to flip it. If it landed heads, he'd be crushed, and if it landed tails, the shockwave would shatter his skeleton.
* At one point in ''ComicBook/ExMachina'', Mayor Hundred is on a talk-radio show and has been asked whether he, in the eventuality that Osama bin Laden was captured and put on trial in the United States, would support or oppose his execution. Answering yes goes against the mayor's own political statements as a firmly anti-death-penalty politician, but answering no makes him sound like he is sympathetic to bin Laden. [[TakeAThirdOption The mayor instead calls the interviewer a "motherfucker" and walks out]], pointing out to his staff that there is absolutely no correct answer to that question.
* In ''{{Comicbook/Lucifer}}'', the Japanese pantheon attempts this on Lucifer, since they want to kill him but honor forbids they do so without a technical cause. The plan is to serve sacred meat to him at a banquet. If he eats the meat, this will be a deadly insult. If he does not eat it, this is an affront to their hospitality, another deadly insult. It [[TakeAThirdOption doesn't work]], of course because Lucifer says he cannot possibly insult his hosts by partaking of the meat before ''they'' do. And as it turns out, Lucifer violated hospitality anyway by [[spoiler:poisoning one of the gods during cocktail hour]], but he also justifies that by reminding them that betrayal and intrigue are the rules by which his hosts live, and he is only obeying those rules.

* 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.

* ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron:'' Ultron's drones maraud about yelling "surrender or perish!" The problem is, Ultron's a mass-murdering machine with a specific hatred for mankind, so surrendering just gets a person killed anyway (not that Ultron's drones usually give anyone a chance to try surrendering in the first place).
* A ''Franchise/{{Superman}} Family'' issue has Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} depowered and trapped by Comicbook/LexLuthor in a cell. The only way out are two doors. One of them leads to a pit whose bottom is a bed of steel spikes. The other door opens onto a blast-furnace.
-->'''Supergirl:''' Just the kind of duplicity I'd expect from Luthor. Both doors spell disaster! And either way, I lose... unless I go back the way I came!

* An argument in ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' ends up putting Thugboy in one of these - it turns out he slept with his girlfriend Empowered's rival Sistah Spooky a few months before he met her, and she just asked him how they compared. If he says Spooky was better in bed, then that's obviously bad. If he says they're about the same, then that would suggest them to be interchangeable, which is even worse. And as he discovers, if he says Emp is better, then that's implying he stayed with Emp primarily (if not solely) because she was better at sex, since it can't be because she's a really cool and powerful superhero (since Spooky is stronger and more famous). No matter what, she's getting angry.

* Music/IceT, "New Jack Hustler:
-->Got me twisted, jammed into a paradox. Every dollar I get, another brother drops. Maybe that's the plan, and I don't understand,God damn----you got me sinkin in quicksand!!
* Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews, "Workin' for a Livin'":
--> ''Damned if you do, damned if you don't\\
I'm supposed to get a raise week, you know damn well I won't''

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'':
** The strip once ran a panel where some poor guy is in Hell, standing in front of two doors, one marked "Damned if you do" and the other marked "Damned if you don't." If that wasn't bad enough, an impatient devil is standing off to the side, demanding that he make up his mind, implying that the guy can't TakeAThirdOption.
** Another panel plays with the trope, albeit in the same location. A clerical worker in the pit asks a new arrival, "Would you like inferno or non-inferno? Ha! Just kidding. It's ''all'' inferno, of course. I just get a kick out of saying that."
* Mother Goose and Grimm had a sequence with Grimm at obedience school. Naturally, he didn't want to go, and he tried to get out of it by claiming that he didn't really need it. "I'll obey! Give me a command, anything, and I'll obey!" Mother Goose promptly gave the perfect command: "Go to obedience school!"

* ''ComicStrip/USAcres'': [[https://garfield.com/usacres/1988/10/15 Orson asked Booker and Sheldon if they wanted him to read a book or if they wanted to watch [=TV=].]] Booker eagerly replied "Television!" and Orson then got inside a [=TV=] and started reading a book inside it.
* In an arc of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strips, Charlie Brown and his family are going on vacation, and Snoopy can either stay in a kennel, or with Lucy. Snoopy's reaction to both suggestions is '''"AUUGHH!"'''. (Eventually, he takes the latter.)

* In ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the Vogon leader tells his men that if he hears a word out of any of them, he'll shoot them all. Then he asks a question and tells them that if someone doesn't answer... well, guess.
* In the radio adaptation of ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', the Demon King Astfgl asks one of his minions if it knows why Astfgl is so angry. "Is it, perhaps, because I'm SurroundedByIdiots?" The junior demon stutters a reply, realising that it can either deny its lord's evident anger, or admit that Astfgl is, in fact, surrounded by idiots.

* In Creator/ArthurMiller's ''Theatre/TheCrucible;'':

* The first act of ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre''. The title character tries to TakeAThirdOption by stalling; this leads the king becoming suspicious of him and deciding to kill him anyway.
* ''Nathan the Wise'' by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is set in Jerusalem during a ceasefire in the course of the Crusades. Sultan Saladin asks the titular character, a rich Jew famed for his wisdom, which of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is the true religion. If Nathan answered "Judaism", that would of course offend the devout Muslim Saladin, if he answered "Islam", he would reveal himself as a terrible hypocrite, and if he answered "Christianity" he would do both. He gets out of the dilemma by telling the Ring Parable (which Lessing took from Boccaccio), the gist of which is that it beyond human understanding to decide and that the correct answer - known only to God - may even be "none of the above".

* In ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt'', Touchstone tries to argue for unchastity in this manner. It doesn't work.
-->'''Touchstone ''': No, truly, unless thou wert hard-favoured; for honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar.\\
'''Jacques''' [Aside]: A material fool!\\
'''Audrey''': Well, I am not fair; and therefore I pray the gods make me honest.\\
'''Touchstone ''': Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut were to put good meat into an unclean dish.
* Jean Valjean's IAmSong "Who Am I" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' - "If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent I am damned."
** Similar is Javert's dilemma after Valjean spares him. His choice is to arrest Valjean for his past crimes (the lawful choice) or spare him in return (the moral choice). [[ToBeLawfulOrGood Either choice]] would mean Javert doing something wrong, and thus destroying his righteous self-image. [[spoiler:The song's called "Javert's Suicide", in case you were wondering [[TakeAThirdOption how that turned out]].]]
* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Sweeney uses this when explaining his new mindset as an OmnicidalManiac: "The lives of the wicked should be made brief! For the rest of us, death will be a relief!"
* In ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'', Sister Aloysius finds herself in this position at the end. If she is correct about Father Flynn's guilt (she believes him to be a child molester who was either grooming or abusing a student at the school), all she's done is gotten him KickedUpstairs into a position where he can do even greater harm. If she is wrong, her own petty prejudices led her to persecute a completely innocent man, and deprived a vulnerable student of his only protection.

* 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]]):
-->'''Yes:''' That's good, 'cause you about to go bananas ON THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONAAAAAAAAA!!! BEE-YETCH!!!\\
'''No:''' That's good, 'cause you ain't finding any bananas ON THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONAAAAAAAAA!!! BEE-YETCH!!!\\
'''Unsure:''' Well I know where you can find out. You can find out ON THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONAAAAAAAAA!!! BEE-YETCH!!!
* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony:'' In the opening scene of the episode "Winning", Apple Bloom needs help from Zecora, so she extorts her by threatening to tell the police that Zecora gave her drugs. Reluctantly, Zecora agrees. And how exactly does Apple Bloom need help? "I need you to give me drugs!"

* ''Machinima/{{Smashtasm}}'' has the scene where Grant and Gront are reporting to [=Girem6=]. Gront keeps pissing off [=Girem6=], which leads said BigBad to order another mook to inflict pain on Grant. After a few hits, and asking why he's the one being punished, Grant is told that "[[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure Hitting the partner of the offender encourages discipline.]]" Grant tries to get even by insulting his boss, who orders him to be punished anyway, "Because I blame your friend for that comment."

* A short [[StylisticSuck parody visual novel]] called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmTwMSKW7RA Fake Novel: Girl Simulator]] combines this with UnwinnableJokeGame. It has four girls (all of them [[{{Expy}} expies]] of various girls from anime) that you can choose to talk to. For each girl, you have three choices of how to respond to her. Regardless of which choice you select, she gets mad at you and it's game over. You can also just sit there and do nothing. She'll eventually get mad at you for not answering her and it's game over.

* An argument in ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' ends up putting Thugboy in one of these - it turns out he slept with his girlfriend Empowered's rival Sistah Spooky a few months before he met her, and she just asked him how they compared. If he says Spooky was better in bed, then that's obviously bad. If he says they're about the same, then that would imply them to be interchangeable, which is even worse. And as he discovers, if he says Emp is better, then that's saying that all Emp has going for her is being better at sex than the more popular and powerful Spooky. No matter what, she's getting angry.