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I seem physical...

  • On the fringe between two countries, I have no proper home, but make one for others.
  • Standing proudly for all to see, my purpose is often to conceal.
  • Heterogeneous, I am part smooth and part knobby.
  • Exactly where I am at any moment depends on my frame of reference.

Do I have poor emotional regulation?

  • If you neglect me for too long I'll begin to groan. If you still keep forcing me to work under such conditions, I will start to shriek at you!
  • I tend to be somewhat insecure, and my coping strategy is to hold tightly to whatever I can latch onto.
  • I sometimes become a bit clingy, letting go only with reluctance and after forceful persuasion.

Perhaps I'm even a bully!

  • Do not disrespect me, as I can strike very hard. If you get in my way, I will crush you!
  • When things get heated, it's best to leave me alone—you might regret coming my way.
  • I am a divisive sort, but people value me for exactly this quality!

But I have childlike qualities, too

  • Like a child at a playground, I often enjoy swinging and being swung, or maybe going on a slide.
  • Children may be fond of repetition, but they're amateurs compared to me. I'm a master of it.
  • I think the whole world revolves around me.

What am I?

Hint 1:

Take "countries" figuratively. Very.

Hint 2:

The headings are complete red herrings. Remove them and jumble the clues randomly. It might help. The red herrings function to make you miss the literal meanings of the words used--by "pre-loading" your brain with a fake context, you'll more likely fail to guess the right connotations or denotations of the words used. Thus, if you mix the clues up and remove the headings, new ideas will emerge around the ways that the particular words (oh so very carefully chosen, for the most part) might relate to each other.

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4 Answers 4

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I think it's a:

Door

On the fringe between two countries:

The countries might be rooms, the door is integral to most people's homes

Standing proudly for all to see, my purpose is often to conceal:

Everyone can see the door, but it conceals objects behind it

Heterogeneous, I am part smooth and part knobby:

Doors are generally smooth but has a knob or two

Exactly where I am at any moment depends on my frame of reference:

A door can be closed(in its frame) or open(out of its frame)

If you neglect me for too long I'll begin to groan. If you still keep forcing me to work under such conditions, I will start to shriek at you:

Doors tend to squeak if you don't oil the hinges

I tend to be somewhat insecure, and my coping strategy is to hold tightly to whatever I can latch onto:

Door tend to swing to-and-fro if it's not latched

I sometimes become a bit clingy, letting go only with reluctance and after forceful persuasion:

Especially in humid environments doors swell and get stuck in their frames and you have to force them open

Do not disrespect me, as I can strike very hard. If you get in my way, I will crush you:

I'm sure everyone knows how it feels to have their finger slammed in a door

When things get heated, it's best to leave me alone—you might regret coming my way:

In a building fire it's not wise to open doors or windows, extra oxygen feeds the fire

I am a divisive sort, but people value me for exactly this quality

A door's purpose is to divide spaces and provide privacy

Like a child at a playground, I often enjoy swinging and being swung, or maybe going on a slide:

Doors mostly swing and some slide

Children may be fond of repetition, but they're amateurs compared to me. I'm a master of it:

Doors repeat it's opening and closing actions multiple times a day

I think the whole world revolves around me:

From the frame of reference of a door the world is revolving about the doors hinges

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  • $\begingroup$ You did it! Every clue you answered exactly right, if not with every aspect I has in mind in a couple of cases. Did it take you long? Was it fun? How could I improve in the future? $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 14:34
  • $\begingroup$ Inside and outside are so different as to be like two different worlds, or "countries". A front door is neither inside nor outside (or both), and thus has no home. A front door is pretty important for most houses and it would be hard to feel at home with the door missing! $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 14:39
  • $\begingroup$ I quite enjoyed it, probably because I was sure I got it right. I generally suck at riddles and tend to just glance over them with too little patience to really put my mind to it. It took me while, I was first contemplating along the lines of drill bits or saw blades but couldn't get everything to fit $\endgroup$
    – ChP
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 14:50
  • $\begingroup$ Which clue first made you think of a door? Were any clues too misleading? $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 14:52
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    $\begingroup$ What I liked about this riddle is that the clues weren't "outlandish", everything could somehow be literally attributed to a door. I also liked the way the clues were structured, it's much better than most riddles I came across. It helped focus my thought, even though the headings were supposed to be distractions. $\endgroup$
    – ChP
    Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 14:56
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I think it is

Iron

  • On the fringe between two countries, I have no proper home, but make one for others.

Borders can be made of iron wires. We use iron rods to make homes.

  • Standing proudly for all to see, my purpose is often to conceal.

It simply says that Iron is not transparent.

  • Heterogeneous, I am part smooth and part knobby.

We can make alloys with it.

  • Exactly where I am at any moment depends on my frame of reference.

Iron can be found at many places. (Even in our body)

  • If you neglect me for too long I'll begin to groan. If you still keep forcing me to work under such conditions, I will start to shriek at you!

Iron deficiency can cause pain in different parts of our body.

  • I tend to be somewhat insecure, and my coping strategy is to hold tightly to whatever I can latch onto.

Here insecure refer to rusting.

  • I sometimes become a bit clingy, letting go only with reluctance and after forceful persuasion.

You need a lot of force to break a material made of Iron. Or as question_asker suggested in the comments that this sentence suggests the magnetic properties of Iron.

  • Do not disrespect me, as I can strike very hard. If you get in my way, I will crush you!

Self Explanatory.

  • When things get heated, it's best to leave me alone—you might regret coming my way.

Iron can get heated and cause you harm.

  • I am a divisive sort, but people value me for exactly this quality!

Divisive here mean that it cannot be broken easily.

  • Like a child at a playground, I often enjoy swinging and being swung, or maybe going on a slide.

Swings and Slides are made of it.

  • Children may be fond of repetition, but they're amateurs compared to me. I'm a master of it.

All the elements of homogeneous mixture of Iron do not contain any other element. That is, element of iron is repeated several times.

  • I think the whole world revolves around me.

Because we use it in our day-to-day life. Or as Beastly Gerbil suggested in the comments that the core of the Earth has Iron in it

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  • $\begingroup$ The last one, the core of the Earth is made of iron isn't it? $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 17:09
  • $\begingroup$ "clingy" could refer to Fe being attracted to magnets? $\endgroup$
    – question_asker
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 17:10
  • $\begingroup$ @BeastlyGerbil Thanks. And question_asker Thanks to you too. $\endgroup$
    – manshu
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 17:13
  • $\begingroup$ ...Iron Curtain? $\endgroup$
    – feelinferrety
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 20:51
  • $\begingroup$ It isn't iron. Creative, though! $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 23:56
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I believe you are:

A mountain

I seem physical.. On the fringe between two countries, I have no proper home, but make one for others.

Mountains often form a natural border between countries, lots of things live in the mountain.

Standing proudly for all to see, my purpose is often to conceal.

Tall, can hide a lot of things in the mountain

Heterogeneous, I am part smooth and part knobby.

Sharp rocks, smooth walls, either are possible

Exactly where I am at any moment depends on my frame of reference.

Is a mountain located at the peak? or under the earth? Or everything in between?

Do I have poor emotional regulation? If you neglect me for too long I'll begin to groan. If you still keep forcing me to work under such conditions, I will start to shriek at you!

Volcanoes, also, if you mine poorly you might cause a collapse/rockslide/mudslide

I tend to be somewhat insecure, and my coping strategy is to hold tightly to whatever I can latch onto.

Mountains are slowly eroded away, and they are held together under immense pressure.

I sometimes become a bit clingy, letting go only with reluctance and after forceful persuasion.

You might mine for valuable stuff in the mountain, but it's difficult material to break up.

Perhaps I'm even a bully! Do not disrespect me, as I can strike very hard. If you get in my way, I will crush you!

People fall into cracks or ravines or have rocks fall on them.

When things get heated, it's best to leave me alone—you might regret coming my way.

Volcanoes again

I am a divisive sort, but people value me for exactly this quality!

Hermits may like the mountain because it is far away from other people and secluded.

But I have childlike qualities, too Like a child at a playground, I often enjoy swinging and being swung, or maybe going on a slide.

Rockslides/mudslides

Children may be fond of repetition, but they're amateurs compared to me. I'm a master of it.

Geological timescales are incredibly long

I think the whole world revolves around me

The core is rocky/magmay

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  • $\begingroup$ Creative! But the answer fits much, much better with the clues! $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 23:55
  • $\begingroup$ My apologies if you were thrown off by my figurative "countries". For some reason, the division of indoor and outdoor struck me as so different as to warrant calling different countries, but perhaps I was taking a philosophical perspective too far. $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 17:57
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Here are my guesses - maybe they will help someone else. Each fits some, but not all:

bridge, dam, river(or other body of water)

The "childlike qualities" were hardest for me to match.

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  • $\begingroup$ My apologies if you were thrown off by my figurative "countries". For some reason, the division of indoor and outdoor struck me as so different as to warrant calling different countries, but perhaps I was taking a philosophical perspective too far. $\endgroup$
    – ErikE
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 17:57

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