# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/122 "2019-09-09T13:51:05Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Do you want fries with that? > > If I wanted fries, I’d have ordered fries! So yeah get me some fries now that you mentioned it. I have some sympathy for this one. I worked at Taco Bell for years and we’d ask - if they didn’t order it - nachos, too. Sometimes they were all " oh, yeah. And a nachos. tHanks. " But other people would get offended and say no and stomp off. Then they’d stomp back up 5 minutes later. “You forgot my nachos!” ---
**Author:** ![And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/and_his_buzzer_goes/32/377_2.png) [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_his_buzzer_goes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/123 "2019-09-09T14:37:09Z")
As already mentioned, when dressed in a recognisable outfit, like cycling/motorbike gear, “Did you come by bike?” “No, I enjoy running around in spandex/leathers”. Yes, I know it’s a conversation starter, like “How do you do? (I don’t \*\*\*really \*\*\*need an answer)”, but it couldn’t hurt to try something better. The “Do you know x” if people hear you’re from another town or company. The odd thing is: I think this myself… We visited a restaurant in my old town during the weekend and was wondering if I’d bump into someone I know. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/124 "2019-09-09T14:57:56Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > And why exactly is that a dumb question? I mean we do of course, but is that obvious. It always precedes US Thanksgiving by exactly 45 days, incidentally. > > The dumbest question I got asked more times than I can count is, “Is this going to be on the exam?” I always say that it might be. Even dumber, “What will be on the exam?” “Everything we did.” My usual response to this is “What you don’t know will be on the exam.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/125 "2019-09-09T15:10:18Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > My usual response to this is “What you don’t know will be on the exam.” I remember my Physics professor being asked if he would provide formulas, or did we have to memorize them all. He told us he would provide everything we needed. We had a midterm and a final. The morning of the midterm, people were frantically flipping through their exam, searching for the formula list. Someone raised their hand and asked, and he wrote on the chalkboard: F=ma He chuckled and said, “There, with that you can derive anything else you need.” He was correct. I got close to 100% on the exam, and the one point I missed was actually a bit of a trick question. But many people were royally pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/126 "2019-09-09T15:17:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Another: Where do you get the ideas for your art? Do artists in general perceive this as a stupid question? I am not an artist, in fact art (visual, specifically) may as well be magic to me. I have no idea how an artist does what they do nor where they may get inspiration. It is, however, a fascinating subject to me. I am one who asks that very question. ---
**Author:** ![tricoteuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tricoteuse/32/4334_2.png) [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/127 "2019-09-09T15:18:59Z")
“Do you work here?” As I’m sitting behind the reception desk in my shirt with the company’s logo on it. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/128 "2019-09-09T15:28:56Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Do you want fries with that? > > If I wanted fries, I’d have ordered fries! That used to bother me when I first went to fast-food places, in my early youth (back before the Earth’s crust had completely cooled). Eventually I did simply accept the policy of asking. Unless had I made it clear that the burger was all that I wanted. > [@](#): > > So yeah get me some fries now that you mentioned it. It sounds to me that it worked just fine in your case. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/129 "2019-09-09T15:42:53Z")
When I’m wearing my red shirt, standing behind the cash register ringing up purchases and the light is on. “Are you open?” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/130 "2019-09-09T16:20:18Z")
“Can you play “Piano Man”?” … while playing guitar at a gig, party, campfire, etc… 😕 - Yes, but this guitar doesn’t have any flats/black keys. - Yes, but I can’t whistle. - Yes… then play something completely different. - No, never heard of it. “Do you work here?” While picking up supplies/equipment at Home Depot wearing workboots, a sweat shirt and jeans and not a uniform or orange apron. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/131 "2019-09-09T16:27:47Z")
Not really dumb so much as unobservant: I work at the ticket counter at a museum that also has an Omnimax theater. People will buy tickets for a show and then ask where the theater is- somehow overlooking the huge sign that says “OmniTheater”. Since it would be rude to say “where the sign says OmniTheater”, I say “where you see the blue neon over there”, since the entrance is highlighted by blue neon striping. They also frequently ask if we have any maps. The stack of pamphlets with “Map” might be a clue. Since they’re side by side with other pamphlets I say “the blue ones”, since that’s what color they are. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/132 "2019-09-09T16:32:18Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > “Can you play “Piano Man”?” … while playing guitar at a gig, party, campfire, etc… 😕 😕 Is there something unique about that piece of music that makes it impossible to play with a guitar? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/133 "2019-09-09T16:35:42Z")
“Do you know why I pulled you over?” Because my mind-reading abilities have clearly failed? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/134 "2019-09-09T16:37:49Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > “Do you know why I pulled you over?” > > Because my mind-reading abilities have clearly failed? “I assume it’s about the dead prostitute in my trunk, but tell me how in the world do you know about it?” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/135 "2019-09-09T16:38:41Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > 😕 Is there something unique about that piece of music that makes it impossible to play with a guitar? Whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/136 "2019-09-09T16:59:46Z")
\>\> Is zero an even number? My office mate, the smartest PhD student in our group of rocket scientists, and a very good programmer, paused when I asked him this, and said “Maybe it’s a special case?” Simplistically, it’s even, and it feels like it should be. But ya never know, in some applications maybe it ought to be handled differently… This reminds me of a similar situation, where a prof I had asked his students an exam question (for an aerodynamics class 25 years ago) to provide a basic definition for the “energy of a flowing gas.” Almost all of us provided the expression for enthalpy. He’s like “No no, that’s not it, I’m only interested in energy.” Disappointed, he then asked a number of his Aero/Astro colleagues, who also provided the definition for enthalpy. > [@SciFiSam](#): > > I’m a lesbian who had a child young, and the ex I had when my daughter was very young coincidentally looked a lot more like my daughter than I did - they both have straight blonde hair and similarly shaped and eyes and face (and we all have blue eyes). So I didn’t mind when people assumed she was the biological mother - it was a reasonable assumption. And it happened quite a lot. People would get confused about my daughter calling me Mum and my ex by her name and they’d decide to find out why, or they were just curious, or whatever. My wife has dark hair and eyes, and tans well. I’m pale: red/blond, blue eyes, freckles / burns instantly when outdoors anywhere south of Seattle. When my son was a baby he was similarly pale, blue-eyed, etc. Whenever I had him out and about, nobody questioned my being his father. (He was a “mini me.”) But when wifey had him out and about, hiking, shopping, whatever, people would sometimes assume she was his nanny. This got her irritated (and concerned that someone might take him away). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/137 "2019-09-09T17:13:39Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I don’t remember what history class it was but in College my professor was adamant that we should actually be referring to the American Revolution as “The American Colonial Civil War” or “The Colonial Secession” because the point of the Revolution wasn’t to depose the British Government but rather to just break-away from it. This might be a “history teacher meme”, because I had a U.S. History professor in college who told us that the American Revolution and American Civil War ought to switch names. > [@Shodan](#): > > Orthodox, or Western? > > Regards, > Shodan Orthodox. NO! Catholic! AAAAAAAAAA… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/138 "2019-09-09T17:39:47Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#): > > I run a Pizzeria in St Louis… > > The most common (in my opinion STUPID) question I get asked is “How Big is a 14” Pizza" or How big is an 18" pizza"…ummm “14” or 18" inches in diameter, respectively" Given that a two-by-four is [not two inches by four inches](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3074/why-arent-two-by-fours-two-inches-by-four-inches/), it’s not unreasonable to wonder whether a 14" or 18" pizza is actually 14 or 18 inches across. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/139 "2019-09-09T17:57:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > “I assume it’s about the dead prostitute in my trunk, but tell me how in the world do you know about it?” **LMAO!** But you would be in _soooo_ much trouble if you did. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/140 "2019-09-09T18:42:52Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Do you want fries with that? > > If I wanted fries, I’d have ordered fries! So yeah get me some fries now that you mentioned it. I worked at a McDonald’s in the 1980s. A complete meal was considered to include sandwich+fries+drink; if a customer’s order didn’t include all three, we were _required_ to suggest whatever was missing. See [“suggestive selling”.](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/suggestive-selling.asp) While perhaps annoying to some customers who are very certain about what they want, it did increase revenue overall, which is why we had to ask. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767/141 "2019-09-09T18:52:23Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > To the OP, I don’t have any questions per se that stick out in my memory, but I have on two separate occasions had mothers decide that the best way to manage getting both their library books and their infant children from the car into the library was to bring the infant in, wordlessly place it in its carrier thingy on the desk in front of me, then attempt to leave the building to park their car and return with their books. I worked the front desk of a library for some time, and I never saw that happen. Hunh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-dumbest-questions-youve-been-asked-more-than-once/839767.md?page=8)