The Stupid Questions People Ask...all too frequently

Wow, this thread totally confirms my cynicism towards humanity as a whole, with those few rare exceptions of intelligence (I've found a disproportionately large number of those exceptions here at FOG, though, so for that I thank all of you ^_^).

Anywho, here are a couple of pet peeve questions of mine:

"How are you?/What's up?"

Under normal circumstances, I don't mind this question at all. However, it gets really annoying when I pass someone on campus while walking to class, and they respond with one of these questions when I say hi. I mean, by the time I register the question and make an appropriate response, they've already passed me and I'm talking to thin air! Come on, if you're going to ask me this question, at least stop for a second so we can hold a decent conversation.

This next one requires a little background. Last summer I worked at a herpetarium for a wildlife park, which is where they housed all their snakes and other reptiles. And I got this question almost every day, most often from adults instead of their children:

"Are the snakes real?"

No, we just keep rubber ones behind glass for your own freaking amusement. Seriously, why in the world would they hire interns to work in a herpetarium where the animals weren't real?!

And that ends my little rant. I feel much better now ^_^

I happen to hate that too! People think that question is interchangeable with "hello," um, no.

How many people have been asked this series of questions:
Are you okay?
Yes.
Are you sure?
Yes.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Are you sure? I think something's wrong.
Then why the hell did you ask the question./ Go get effed sideways, with a chainsaw.

I get basically the same thing about my hair. Lemme say this. I'm a sixteen year old Texan male, and I do no need people giving me shit about my medium length, straight haired, very clean and well maintained ponytail. I don't want to hear it from my uncle, I don't want to hear it from Dad, and I certainly don't want to hear it from some stranger.

Honestly! Comments from fatass old men like, 'Time for a haircut, boy,' will result in your... 'Untimed death,' I believe Dame Vaako put it? Gah. I get this less than the last time I grew my hair out, when I was seven and it reached my rear end, but still. Gah. At least ten year old black chicks don't walk up to me in the Golden Corral and ask, "Are you a boy, or a girl?" If you don't know, obviously you can't sense my pheromones yet, and you need. To grow. Up.

@Vic: Oh, I get either. But I'd rather have older. As in, their early twenties or something... I'm only 19 of course! D: And it's especially annoying with my Dad! He's not as bad, but he always wishes I dress girlier. It can't be to attract guys cause he's the "you can't marry till you're fourty" kind of dad.

SilvanArrow wrote:
"How are you?/What's up?"

Under normal circumstances, I don't mind this question at all. However, it gets really annoying when I pass someone on campus while walking to class, and they respond with one of these questions when I say hi. I mean, by the time I register the question and make an appropriate response, they've already passed me and I'm talking to thin air! Come on, if you're going to ask me this question, at least stop for a second so we can hold a decent conversation.

Deadliest Vic wrote:

How many people have been asked this series of questions:
Are you okay?
Yes.
Are you sure?
Yes.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Are you sure? I think something's wrong.
Then why the hell did you ask the question./ Go get effed sideways, with a chainsaw.

I haaaate it when that happens. The later one the most! I mean, if I say I'm fine but I'm really not, it means I don't want talk about it, right?

I don't date black people either. Not cause they're black but because of their features that I'm not so into. I told this to a black friend who was coming onto me.

"So, I have no chance?"

Whyyyyyyyyy do you have to put me through this guilt trip? D:

"[sigh] No, you do not..."

That's an annoying question, too, "So I don't have a chance?"
Not right now, but keep asking, I might start hating you enough to shuffle you loose the mortal coils, bub

I have like five guy friends who just hound me, and they know I'm not straight nor into them...I just don't get it >.<

I hate this question to deeeeeaaaaaaath!!!

"Why do you have low self-esteem?"

Is that counted as a question. Most people who ask me this want me to go back to my child history and list the events that lead to my self-esteem problem, but that's pretty much impossible. And then when I give them what makes me a low self-esteem person they say "Well, stop. Don't think that. Blah, blah, blah" as if it were really that easy. I mean, it's not that bad if none of them noticed until a long time after they've met me (and I mean a looooong time) because I'm still really cheery and outgoing, but they still think it's a horrible thing!

Okay, so some of these questions are extremely justified as being stupid and angry-making, but I think some of you are just overreacting. I'm not going to point any fingers, I'm just saying that some of you guys need to lengthen your fuses. Some of those questions are not that bad at all. You're either just far too easily irritated, or you're just posting them here because you thought of an angry and/or a witty response to them. Some of you need to chill.


Okay. I have two right here:

First, I would like to say that I have platinum blond hair. It's naturally this colour. I do not dye it because I'm afraid dying it will screw up the colour to make it different when it grows back. Anyway, this question isn't one that makes me angry. I just think it's really funny when someone who's known me for longer than a year asks this of me.

Q: You mean you don't dye your hair?
A: You've known me for three years. We have had classes together every single year. You seriously never realized my hair colour never changes?

Q: How can you be an atheist if you believe in spirits and the after life?
A: Atheism only means that someone doesn't believe in any deities of any kind. It doesn't encompass spiritual beliefs as well.


Given, the last one isn't so stupid. Society has put the idea into people's heads that if you're an atheist you don't believe in anything, so I'm not really so surprised at that last question. It's not that difficult to educate someone if they're willing to listen. However, I do find it annoying when they tell me that I can't be an atheist because I have spiritual beliefs. I don't mind them asking how it's possible, but when they try to tell me what I am or am not ((much like Silvone experienced)) it irritates me.

Ragter the junior greeter wrote:Why don't you take a shower?

This..just pisses me off to no end. I do take showers on a regular basis, but I have a horribly bad dandruff problem that I'm trying to get under control. I don't need some ass telling me to take a shower, when I do it on a daily basis.

I, get that too. I got my under control with lots of..I'm lying I shave my head to keep it under control. Sorry v.v

Any way. This would be a few of mine.

" Hey, you have curly hair. Why? "
I'm a white guy by the way..pale white. These would be my answers.

" Well you see, my mom fucked the milk guy! " " My mom cheated on my father with some black guy and then somehow got the doc to change me! Amazing isn't it! "

I have Scottish and Irish in me so..curly hair..blond..yeah go figure.

And my all time fave.

" Do you have the time? "

" Yeah, it's a freckle past a hair.." or " I have no watch you oblivious dumb fuck!!! "

[I work in a night club, and we recently had a roof terrace built.]

Q: "Where's the roof terrace?"
A1: "In the basement."
A2: "On the roof. If it's not there, come find me and I'll report it misising."

Q: "Can I have a red WKD Blue."
A: "... I think you've had a bit much to drink."

Q: "Can I have a Smirnoff Ice Blue."
A: "Do you mean a Smirnoff Ice, or a WKD Blue?"

Q: "How much is a vodka and coke?"
A: "All drinks are two pounds tonight."
Q: "Oh cool! How much is a smirnoff ice?"
A: "Two pounds."
Q: "How much is a Jack Daniels and coke?"
A: "..."

Q: "Can I have a redbull and coke?"
A: "A redbull and coke?"
Q: "Yeah."
A: "Okay."
Q: "... Did I just ask for a redbull and coke?"
A: "Yup."
Customer: "Crap."

Xasthom wrote:
Q: "Can I have a redbull and coke?"
A: "A redbull and coke?"
Q: "Yeah."
A: "Okay."
Q: "... Did I just ask for a redbull and coke?"
A: "Yup."
Customer: "Crap."

Lawlz. Failed Jägerbomb.

...none of these questions are annoying. Like not one.

I have a confession to make. At time, when I'm absolutely bored or really just loose and not thinking into anything too deep I tend to ask random but... well, in my opinion, at least, interesting questions. No two questions are alike, though, so it's technically not "asked frequently".

For example, on the way back from Atlanta I was in the car with mom, nothing going on, when suddenly I ask: "Why do some people call coffee 'a cup of Joe'?"

Research revealed these possibilities. Personally, I think #2 is the most likely.

Coffee has been called many things in America. Joe, Java, mud, murk and Jamoke.
Poplar theories abound. The word Joe for coffee has two seemingly reasonable possibilities.
In 1860 a popular song of the times was "old black Joe" written by Stephen C. Foster the same man who wrote "Camp town races" and "Oh! Suzanna". Diners of the time picked up the slang 'Cup O Joe'.
Another possible answer could be that Secretary of the Navy, Joseph Daniels banned alcohol from US Navy warships in 1913 and sailors began drinking more and more coffee and calling it 'Joe'.

This would probably annoy people, I don't know, but I've tested an insanity test and according to it I'm... "unconventional". It's part o' me charm.

They're not supposed to be annoying, they're supposed to be stupid.

The difference being?

Annoying: Annoyance is an unpleasant mental state that is characterized by such effects as irritation and distraction from one's conscious thinking. It can lead to emotions such as frustration and anger.

Stupid: Lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity

*facepalm*

You took me way too literally/seriously.

A lack of intellectual acuity seriously distracts me from conscious thinking, as well as leads me to feelings of frustration and anger. So while there is a difference in definition, there is hardly a difference in the relative effects of stupid vs. annoying.

So, in effect, a stupid question is annoying, because it's lack of intellectual acuity causes one to feel frustrated or angry.

While it's true that being the target of a stupid question can be annoying, it is also true that being a casual observer of said exchange is funny. After all, stupidity seems to be annoying to experience but amusing to observe.

Well...I can't really argue there

I am inclined to agree. I have noticed a lot of anger in this thread when people have shared their encounters, but honestly, I wasn't angry with the ones that I was asked. I was just amused at the lack of acuity.

They're not stupid, either. In fact...well, let's put it this way: if people didn't ask these questions, the title of this thread would be: "The Stupid Assumptions People Make...all too frequently."

I dunno, maybe it's just that complaining about how stupid other people are seems to me to be nothing more than an attempt to make yourselves look/feel smarter. It's kind of like the word "sheeple."

I kind of agree with you. I already said something of this nature in my first post in this thread, actually.

Want to make a thread called "The Stupid Threads People Make...all too frequently"?

Do it! I have a couple I'm eager to point out about.

If you're so eager, why don't you make it yourself?

Didn't want it to seem like I was stealing an idea. Have had terrible drama come from that before.

Drama? Okay, I'm on it.