# What's the dumbest question you've ever been asked? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054 "2017-06-03T23:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/101 "2017-06-05T12:34:40Z")
My brother used to take a large helium weather balloon to a music festival to mark our campsite in a field of thousands of tents. Once a day he would take it out to his car to top it off as it slowly lost the helium. He would hold the line in his hand and also tied it around his waist as a back-up in case had to let go for some reason. On one such trip a guy says to him, “Wow! That’s big! If you let go, would it carry you away?”. ---
**Author:** ![originaljbw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/73ab20/32.png) [@originaljbw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/originaljbw)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/102 "2017-06-05T16:27:03Z")
“Does your vegetarian lasagna contain any beef/pork/whatever meat?” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that question I would be able to build the Zoolander school kids who can’t read good and lack reading comprehension. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/103 "2017-06-05T16:38:04Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > I didn’t say the parity of zero has anything to do with dividing by zero. I said that because zero has certain unique qualities (e.g. one can’t divide another number by it), your students might be forgiven for wondering if it has _other_ unique qualities (e.g. maybe it’s defined as odd, maybe it’s done as being neither odd nor even). Indeed. Zero is a weird number, so I would not assume that’s it’s either even or odd. There’s really nothing “stupid” about that question that I see (although, yes, I know it’s even, but if I were presented the question without knowing this fact beforehand, while I could not find a reasoning for it being “odd,” I could see it being an exception and being simply “neither” or “undefined.”) ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/104 "2017-06-05T16:41:18Z")
> [@originaljbw](#): > > “Does your vegetarian lasagna contain any beef/pork/whatever meat?” > > If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that question I would be able to build the Zoolander school kids who can’t read good and lack reading comprehension. This is not a dumb question, this is a smart question. If I had a dollar for every time that gets answered with “no meat, just chicken” or “no meat, just fish” I, too, would, well have many dollars. Seriously, I once asked that exact question at the deli in Safeway. “The vegetarian lasagna has no meat, right?” TWO different people said “no meat”. Buy some, get it home, look at the first bite on the fork - freaking meat!!! :mad: ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/105 "2017-06-05T16:48:06Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > This is not a dumb question, this is a smart question. If I had a dollar for every time that gets answered with “no meat, just chicken” or “no meat, just fish” I, too, would, well have many dollars. Indeed. I’m not even vegetarian, but there’s still a lot of people who don’t seem to know what it means. (Like, for example, claiming a vegetable soup is vegetarian and then, lo and behold, further prodding reveals it’s made on chicken stock.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/106 "2017-06-05T17:11:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Indeed. I’m not even vegetarian, but there’s still a lot of people who don’t seem to know what it means. (Like, for example, claiming a vegetable soup is vegetarian and then, lo and behold, further prodding reveals it’s made on chicken stock.) One of the funniest moments in the British sitcom “The Royle Family”, grandma discussing a vegetarian’s options at the buffet - “Can she have wafer-thin ham?” ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/107 "2017-06-05T17:12:34Z")
> [@Modesty\_Blaise](#): > > Me: I’m an atheist. > Them: Aren’t you afraid of going to hell? > That happened on two separate occasions. > > Me answering the phone: Hello > Them: Is that you? Me: I am am atheist. Them: do you worship Satan? ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/108 "2017-06-05T17:16:22Z")
I was driving home with my wife one early evening. The sun was about to set and the moon had already risen in the east. My wife looked at it and asked is that the sun? I responded no its the moon. Then she asked why it’s up when there was still daylight. My wife is very smart. Never spent a lot of time observing the sky though apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/109 "2017-06-05T17:40:05Z")
Several years ago my Roommate was out somewhere one evening then called me up and asked: “what’s our phone number?” > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Why is that dumb? The first number on my cell phone is labelled “HOME”, but it doesn’t give the actual number. By ‘several years ago’ I mean pre-cell phones. He dialed the house line, then asked what our phone number was. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/110 "2017-06-05T18:47:53Z")
Jeez there is a lot of snark in this thread. Chillax, people. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/111 "2017-06-05T18:58:32Z")
This is not a stupid question to ask when posting stupid questions you’ve been asked: Is context required? YES! Otherwise, “Betty who?” doesn’t convey what you think it does. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/112 "2017-06-05T19:15:38Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Why is that dumb? The first number on my cell phone is labelled “HOME”, but it doesn’t give the actual number. Wait, there’s no way to view/edit the number that is labeled as “HOME”? ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/113 "2017-06-05T20:02:01Z")
When I worked in a pet store we had fish called “Painted Glass”. Pretty much see-thru with a neon stripe along their backs. Every time I sold them I explained that the colour would eventually fade because they’re actually injected with dye. This lady said “Soooo…when it fades…do we bring them back to get them re-injected?” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/114 "2017-06-05T20:48:30Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > I didn’t say the parity of zero has anything to do with dividing by zero. I said that because zero has certain unique qualities (e.g. one can’t divide another number by it), your students might be forgiven for wondering if it has _other_ unique qualities (e.g. maybe it’s defined as odd, maybe it’s done as being neither odd nor even). Hence the argument I gave that a number having other unusual properties isn’t usually at all relevant to whether it has this property. [1729](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1729_(number)) has a rather nice property but I can’t imagine anyone thinking this would affect whether it’s odd or even. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/115 "2017-06-05T20:56:36Z")
I just remembered this one: I was watching the news when the Aurora Borealis was going to be visible. After interviewing an astronomer, and referring to the phenomenon several times as the “Northern Lights,” the interviewer asked if there was any particular direction we should look to see them best. The astronomer said, “Well…North…” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/116 "2017-06-05T20:59:10Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > This is not a dumb question, this is a smart question. If I had a dollar for every time that gets answered with “no meat, just chicken” or “no meat, just fish” I, too, would, well have many dollars. > > Seriously, I once asked that exact question at the deli in Safeway. “The vegetarian lasagna has no meat, right?” TWO different people said “no meat”. Buy some, get it home, look at the first bite on the fork - freaking meat!!! :mad: I’d like to get in on this dollar deal. I too have been served “vegetarian” chicken broth, and I can’t count the times that my telling someone I’m a vegetarian as been met with “Do you eat fish?” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/117 "2017-06-05T21:02:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Indeed. I’m not even vegetarian, but there’s still a lot of people who don’t seem to know what it means. (Like, for example, claiming a vegetable soup is vegetarian and then, lo and behold, further prodding reveals it’s made on chicken stock.) I have encountered vegetarian soup that turned out to “not have that much pork in it”. Depending on where in the world you travel, it is an absolutely good question. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/118 "2017-06-05T21:30:02Z")
Just recently, I was driving down the road with my teenaged kid. There were huge piles of pipe stacked for miles on the side of the highway. A large trenching machine was digging a nice long trench. My kid asks me, “What do ya think they’re building here?” I thought that was a pretty stupid question. So I said, “Tennis courts”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/119 "2017-06-05T21:41:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Don’t laugh. The box of salt in my pantry has a best-by date of 09/2021. Dumbest answer to a question too dumb to even ask. I don’t understand. Salt loses its flavor over time. 😕 > [@LicketySplit](#): > > We were planting some pansies, as I recall. They came in those small, black plastic 2" containers. A dude grabbed about a dozen of them and went off to plant them, and then returned to me a few minutes later and asked… > > “Do we take them out of the container before we plant them? Or do we just leave them in and let the roots break through. That works, right?” I know, I know, but there are those degradable containers that do rot away and the plant grows through them. My stupidest was from me, as a little girl. I was pelting my parents with questions as tiny kids do and I must have gotten excited with the attention and my own momentum so I blurted out the now infamous “IS THIS MY HAND?!” :o ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054/120 "2017-06-05T21:45:59Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Just recently, I was driving down the road with my teenaged kid. There were huge piles of pipe stacked for miles on the side of the highway. A large trenching machine was digging a nice long trench. > > My kid asks me, “What do ya think they’re building here?” > > I thought that was a pretty stupid question. So I said, “Tennis courts”. You might be right, if it’s a housing development which includes them. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-question-youve-ever-been-asked/788054.md?page=7)