I think we’ve had threads like this before (I think maybe I even started one a while back), but I think this is a fun idea, so…
I was thinking today about press conferences and other public address events where the speaker finishes his/her speech and opens the floor to Any Questions - how it would be quite fun to deliberately derail the flow by asking a confounding question - a question that sounds superficially sensible, but can’t actually be understood or answered.
So… What’s your derailing question?
And: Where would you like to see it asked?
Mine would be: Countries have names - do you think they should also have surnames?
And I would like to ask it at any UKIP press event.
I’ve been listening to a lot of ancient Greek and Roman writings lately (I know, I’m absolutely killer at parties). Either Pliny the Elder or Heroditus (I forget which) mentions several times as he’s doing his survey of the world’s civilizations that various city-states have surnames.
Hey, Ed – ahem, hey, Cecil – you might want to keep this thread in mind for the next time you want to add a paragraph to a Dope column like you’ve done before (at least once, probably a few times), you know, with the paragraph title like “Questions we’re still pondering” (which you then show to be a sarcastic untruth – you don’t ponder them for a moment.)