What Can You Catch but Not Throw?

Two meanings of catch

The riddle starts from a ball, since "catch" and "throw" belong together in a game. The answer changes the meaning of "catch" to "get an illness". A cold is caused by a virus that passes from person to person, and you cannot pass it by tossing it.

The best riddles of this kind do not hide anything. The word "catch" is the same in both readings.

Other answers that work

A cold is the usual answer, but a few others fit. You can catch a bus, a train or a plane, and you cannot throw any of them. You can catch your breath, or a glimpse of something, or a break. If a listener names one of these, it is a fair answer that follows the clue.

A 1903 relative

Conundrums, Riddles and Puzzles (Dean Rivers, 1903) has a similar joke: "Which is swifter, heat or cold?" The answer there is "Heat, because you can catch cold." The same word "catch" does the work in both riddles.

Different wordings

• What can you catch but not throw?
• What can you catch but never throw?
• You can catch me but cannot throw me. What am I?