6/04/2009

A Post About Questions...

I love questions. I love to ask them. I love to answer them. As far as I'm concerned, the more questions, the better. Here are a few random thoughts about questions:
  • If you've ever seen the show Inside The Actor's Studio, you know that there's a segment where James Lipton asks the interviewee ten questions. The first one is always "What's your favorite word?" A lot of them give lame answers like "yes" or "love" or "infarction". Okay, infarction is pretty cool, but my all-time favorite word is "question". For one, I like the way it sounds. It's a word you really have to chew when you say it - KWESS-chun. Try it. I also like the efficiency of words that are both nouns and verbs. Plus, It's got "quest" in it and quests are bitchin'.
  • I disagree with the idea that there are no stupid questions, but not in the sense that certain questions are stupid based on the information they are trying to elicit. If you genuinely want to know something but aren't sure, for fuck's sake ask - no matter how obvious the answer may seem. I think the stupid questions are the ones people ask when they really don't give a shit what the answer is.
  • A lot of my favorite questions start "I wonder what would happen if you...?", followed closely by ones that start "Why is it that...?"
  • People who don't like questions are typically people I try to avoid.
  • I realize that, were I a parent, I might not be as big a fan of questions as I am now. I remember riding the chairlift while ski patrolling with a little kid who asked me a question, then followed every one of my responses by asking "Why?" Must've been about twenty of them. Once it becomes clear that no matter what I say the kid will continue to ask why, I fall back on my fail-safe answer - Baby Jesus. It usually puts a stop to it.
Any questions?

12 comments:

Kristine said...

Baby Jesus. I'll have to remember that.

My favorite word? Salacious. Though, armadillo is a close second.

Anonymous said...

Why does Rice Krispies snap, crackle and pop? Don't give me the baby Jesus answer either - my mom gave me that one.

Distributorcap said...

can i ask you a question?

MJenks said...

Yeah, pretty much "that's the way God made it" is a failsafe when dealing with an endless tumult of "whys".

Fancy Schmancy said...

The only questions I hate are the ones people ask when they think they already know the answer, and then they are argue with you. My kid does this constantly, "yeah, I know, but". Grrr.

The Imaginary Reviewer said...

Yeah, I have a question. Who are you and what have you done with my pants?

That's one of my favourites.

Cooper Green said...

Still beating your wife?

BeckEye said...

My favorite word is ubiquitous. Or ludicrous.

katrocket said...

I do rather enjoy James Lipton's questions on ITAS. Always interesting.

What's your favourite question of all time?

Jennifer and Sandi said...

I ask dumb questions all day long! That's how I make it thru the day!

Have a wonderful weekend! God knows I am!

* Tink*

- Jennifer

Some Guy said...

Kat- My favorites are the ones I can't answer, like why am I here. Any tough, deep question, really.

Tenacious S said...

Again with my favorite quote (roughly translated) "Dude who asks questions is way cooler than dude who has lots of answers." Voltaire may disagree with the interpretation, but I think he would agree that I have complied with the spirit.