Are self-questioners annoying? Sure.
What is self-questioning? It’s when people ask questions of themselves so they can immediately supply the answer they want.
Could they accomplish the same goal without self-questions. Yes, by using declarative sentences.
Could I write an entire post this way? Sure, just by putting a question before every statement I want to make.
Is this tactic annoying? As all fuck.
Will it stop? Not anytime soon?
Has there been a lot of it lately? You can find examples with a Google News search just by searching for the first three words of a question.
Does it yield a lot of examples? You get Phillies general manager Ed Wade saying, “Have there been bumps in the road along the way? Sure there have.”
Do you see that a lot in sports stories? Well, there’s South Carolina coach Lou Holtz saying: “Could our players have played any harder? No. Could we have played any better? Possibly.”
Do I have a clever name for this technique that combines saying and asking? I call it “sasking.”
Does “sasking” have a chance of catching on in popular lingo? A snowball’s chance.
Is it limited to sports? Not when you have police officials saying things like ``Could we have avoided some of the attacks? Probably not."
Do scientists talk like that? There was this one who said “Should we have a presence in the deep ocean? Absolutely.”
Do I have a hunch about where “sasking” started? It sound like politician-ese to me.
So, do I blame politicians? Of course. I always blame politicians. Especially because I see this all the time from press secretaries, candidates, and people testifying before Congress.
Is this rant lame? Kinda.
Should I get a life? Probably.