# What are the dumbest questions you've been asked more than once? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767 "2019-09-06T01:47:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/202 "2019-09-12T13:58:52Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I’m sorry, that’s not a dumb question. Not being a mathematician, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are contexts in which zero is even, contexts in which it is odd, and contexts in which it’s neither. It’s just nothing. Indeed. It hardly strikes me as a dumb question at all. I guess if the binary was “is it even or odd,” and knowing the answer is one of these, I would say “even.” But if presented with simply the question “is zero even?” I would hesitate, thinking it may be some exception, since zero often is, and answer “neither” (if I hadn’t already known that zero is definitely even.) I mean, it’s an asked enough question that [Numberphile](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1TC-5OLdM) had an episode about it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/203 "2019-09-12T16:16:23Z")
When people say “Can I ask you a question?,” I often find myself replying, “You just did.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/204 "2019-09-12T16:25:07Z")
I’m deeply impressed that this thread has gotten over 200 posts without devolving into a Bill Engvall routine. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/205 "2019-09-12T16:27:21Z")
“(1) Why did all three buildings collapse symmetrically as in a controlled demolition? (2) Why did all three buildings collapse at free fall rates of speed ? (3) WTC7 wasn’t hit by a plane. Why would normal office furnishings and material cause such a massive structural collapse? (4) Why wasn’t the steel from the structures analyzed for explosives and why was it shipped to China for scrap rather than keeping for it for analysis of a crime beyond the government issued explanation? (5) What were the explosions that many people heard? (6) How could there be molten steel under ruins three months after the collapse? (7) How did the fire get so “bad” in a relatively modern structure that would surely pass code? (8) Why has no other skyscraper collapsed the way these three buildings did?” ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/206 "2019-09-12T16:32:37Z")
In the early 1990s, I worked for a hot air balloon company. I would drive a van full of tourists out to the desert, where they would launch and fly, etc. We live in Phoenix AZ, smack in the middle of the Sonora Desert. I can remember being asked several times: Does the government plant those [saguaro](https://www.google.com/search?q=saguaro&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ACYBGNRvYpoGlmXN4a-E01rlsHAjsipQsg:1568305850610&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=fypU2778uJYsmM%253A%252CmK8qn_CMyneJyM%252C%252Fm%252F0m5w_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTC3fFz2gudJuyn97FTQuAZA6Gdgg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvsv_I2svkAhUPDq0KHbxICdMQ_B0wGHoECAoQAw#imgrc=_&vet=1) cactus, or do they just grow that way? I always wanted to be snarky, but you can’t insult the tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/207 "2019-09-12T16:37:41Z")
“Here is some video footage of the Empire State Building I shot in Portrait mode on my iPhone. You can just rotate it to make it fill a widescreen TV, right?” Sure, if you want the building to be sideways. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/208 "2019-09-12T16:43:29Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I’m deeply impressed that this thread has gotten over 200 posts without devolving into a Bill Engvall routine. Actually, it only took [112](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21848483&postcount=112). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/209 "2019-09-12T18:38:58Z")
:smack: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/210 "2019-09-12T18:57:31Z")
Here’s your sign. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767.md?page=10)