I get the old "What do you do (for a job)?"a lot, after I answer with “nothing, I’m feckless” I love it when I get the response “What does that make me?”
Only happened a few times but the line “I guess you’d be fecked” hasn’t failed me yet.
I hate that original question though
Would you like a hug?
The one question I wish more people would ask either me or themselves is “how do you know?” Even if they give an answer I don’t believe (“God told me” for example) at least it means that they have thought about it.
The kinds of questions I can really do without are meaningless chitchat questions like “how was your weekend?” or “where did you go (on your vacation)?”
Yes, I am epistemologically-minded and non-social.
In my younger days, my co-workers threw a lot of parties. At one, my boyfriend sat in a corner talking to no one. At the next, he went out to the car to listen to music. I quit bringing him along. Of course, everyone wanted to know where he was, why he didn’t come, did he know he’s welcome, etc. More than once I responded, “He doesn’t like us.”
Finally one New Year’s Eve I made a lapel pin that said, “Jeff is at Home.” Got a lot of laughs for months. People still asked, but only ironically and cracked themselves up.
ETA: Oh, and before he was disinvited, people would ask me later if he had fun, why did he sit in the corner, what was wrong - basically making me responsible for his good time. Which I was, both by leaving him at home and later simply leaving him.
What is wrong with education in America and what policies would you suggest the government put in place?
I’m a teacher of 15 years now and I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. Sadly, the representatives and senators who make decisions on this area are clueless.
Why is In Bruges one of the best movies of the past decade? I just really liked that movie. It’s one of my favorites.
Why do your hands shake?
Freudian slip?
Just about any, really. I could do with much more human contact in my life. Job offers and invitations for dates would be put at the top of the list.
I wish people would ask me about my favorite dinosaurs more often. They used to care when we were little. It’s sad that no one cares about adults’ interest in them.
And I wish people would not ask if both of my parents had red hair too once they realize my brother also does. Mom did, but not Dad. Both parents having red hair is a Harry Potter thing: I don’t know a single redhead who finds other redheads attractive. Why? An entire lifetime of hearing “__ has red hair too. Is he your brother?” It’s hard to find someone most people mistake for your sibling sexy.
Start a thread asking “Which is your favourite dinosaur?” I’d love to hear people’s favourites, mine is Archaeopteryx! I love birds and I love dinosaurs so Archaeopteryx is an easy favourite.
What’s your favourite dinosaur?
No one ever asks “How are you, Sefton?” or “How was your day, Sefton?”
Oh no, it’s always the same questions: “Who the hell are you?” followed by “Why are you sitting in my bathtub dressed like a squid?”
A question I would like to hear more: “Wanna fuck?”
A question I would like to hear less: “Can we talk?”
Yes, I’m a guy. How could you tell?
My kids never ask me how my day was, and my wife might remember to once a week. I wish they asked more often.
“Why don’t you take tomorrow off?”.
“Do you need me to get that for you?” (Especially bad since my answer to this question is irrelevant; they’re getting that shit for me.)
What question do you wish people would ask you more often?
“Do you need me to get that for you?” (Same question as above, the only difference being the person listens to and respects my answer).
I hate sitting quietly at my desk working on some problem, trying to get my mind to settle into remembering how logarithms work or something similar, only to have one of the Millennials run up and ask if I know where they’ve lost their samples or equipment. I give them my tired librarian look, gaze over my glasses, and say, “I’ve told you once” almost, but not entirely, unlike John Cleese.
Another question that the Millennials ask all too often is (variations of), “Why do you do it that way?” Why do you use a cart to move a full 5 gal bucket from one end of the facility to the other? I always answer the same way, again trying to summon Master Cleese, “Well, there are two reasons… 1) I am old. 2) I am lazy.” This has happened often enough that I rarely get past “Well, there are two reasons…” before the audience provides the reasons for me. Nevertheless, they keep asking the questions.
The nicest question that I can imagine that someone could (potentially) ask me would be along the lines of, “Hey, would you mind if I did all of your yard work for the next few months for free?”
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Is this your winning lottery ticket?
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Are you gonna finish that?
Less of: ‘What happened to your skin?’ I have eczema, I’ve always had it, just sometimes it’s not so visible. The follow up less of question is: ‘Have you tried x?’ where x is some quack treatment. By this point either I’ve tried it or it sounds so unpleasant I’d rather just have the eczema.
More of: just about any question which indicates actual interest, rather than empty social pleasantry.
More of: “Do you want to talk about it?” But only if they are really interested and willing to sit down and listen for a bit. Also, only if they are willing to actually change the subject if I say “no.”
I tend to throw little tid bits of things out when in a group to test the waters. Very often I will find someone with common interests. I enjoy questions about gardening, composting, wood working. solving small problems. My main interests I would rather not talk about because very few people have any clue what I would be talking about anyway.
Parasaurolophus, thanks for asking.