# Questions that are always correct **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722 "2011-03-23T14:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/1 "2011-03-23T14:53:42Z")
Got this idea from games where you have to answer questions wrongly. Which questions are always answered correctly? I can only think of negatives of questions which have no answer, like “what is NOT the answer to world peace?”. Are there more creative questions out there? Oh and “what is your answer?” ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/2 "2011-03-23T14:59:28Z")
Excluding lying\*, ‘Are you alive?’ can only be answered correctly. \*And vampires. Oh, and ‘Not this sentence.’ would be a wrong answer to ‘What is your answer?’, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/3 "2011-03-23T18:37:42Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Got this idea from games where you have to answer questions wrongly. Which questions are always answered correctly? I can only think of negatives of questions which have no answer, like “what is NOT the answer to world peace?”. Are there more creative questions out there? > > Oh and “what is your answer?” Are you talking/writing right now? Depending on medium. You can say no, but you’re still actually answering yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/4 "2011-03-23T19:07:51Z")
The most common one I’ve heard used is “Are you awake?” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/5 "2011-03-23T19:12:46Z")
“Can you hear me asking this question?” ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/6 "2011-03-23T20:45:01Z")
So shouldn’t the thread title be “Answers that are always correct”? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/7 "2011-03-23T21:29:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > “Can you hear me asking this question?” “No.” said the deaf lip reader. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/8 "2011-03-23T21:43:37Z")
“Are you alive?”, “can you hear me?”, etc. can all be answered incorrectly, so they don’t work. Perhaps a Smullyan-esque self-referential question would work, like “Given that any answer other than ‘yes’ will be taken to mean ‘no’, is your answer to this question ‘yes’?” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/9 "2011-03-24T00:13:28Z")
Not a question, but the statement “Here I am” is always correct by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/10 "2011-03-24T00:27:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not a question, but the statement “Here I am” is always correct by definition. Unless you’re trying to trick someone using a microphone and speakers far from your actual location. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-are-always-correct/575722/11 "2011-03-25T01:06:05Z")
“Are you alive?” “Yonda lies the palace of my faddah.” Or, to be explicit about it, what’s the truth value of irrelevancies?