If this were a rhetorical question

deptfordmarmoset
deptfordmarmoset Posts: 3,118
edited June 2011 in The bottom bracket
...would you answer it? Well, go on, would you?

Comments

  • GiantMike
    GiantMike Posts: 3,139
    Rhetorical questions usually get weird answers because they are not based on experience but are responses to an individual's perception of the question (otherwise it wouldn't be rhetorical, it would be actual).

    I do answer rhetorical questions, but I would like to think I would bound the answer within stated limits.

    I guess a better question is why do people find it necessary to pose rhetorical questions when the answers are meaningless.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    I used to get in a lot of trouble at school for that, but it wasn't out of obstinance.

    *am clealy talking when I shouldn't be*

    "RIck, what do you think you are doing?"

    "I think, well, I know, I'm talking..."

    "Detention"

    "But you asked..."

    "stop being belligerent"

    Etc..etc..
  • finchy
    finchy Posts: 6,686
    I used to get in a lot of trouble at school for that, but it wasn't out of obstinance.

    *am clealy talking when I shouldn't be*

    "RIck, what do you think you are doing?"

    "I think, well, I know, I'm talking..."

    "Detention"

    "But you asked..."

    "stop being belligerent"

    Etc..etc..

    Do you model yourself on Mr. Logic out of Viz?
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Is this an answer?
  • MattC59
    MattC59 Posts: 5,408
    If it were rhetorical I probably wouldn't have answered, but as it isn't I have.
    Science adjusts it’s beliefs based on what’s observed.
    Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    johnfinch wrote:
    I used to get in a lot of trouble at school for that, but it wasn't out of obstinance.

    *am clealy talking when I shouldn't be*

    "RIck, what do you think you are doing?"

    "I think, well, I know, I'm talking..."

    "Detention"

    "But you asked..."

    "stop being belligerent"

    Etc..etc..

    Do you model yourself on Mr. Logic out of Viz?

    Hah. If only.

    I blame a Dutch upbringing. Tend to take things quite literally there.
  • maddog 2
    maddog 2 Posts: 8,114
    the question isn't a rhetorical question. It's just a question. So you should answer it.

    if it was a rhetorical question then you shouldn't answer it.

    so in short, you should answer it, by saying no.
    Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    What is the difference between a hypothetical question and a rhetorical question?


    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)

  • pneumatic wrote:
    What is the difference between a hypothetical question and a rhetorical question?

    A hypothetical question is a kind of ''what would happen if...?'' type question where the ''if'' part is theoretical. '' What would happen if the moon fell on my head when I'm wearing a helmet?'' is pretty hypothetical because the moon always falls off the edge of the world and I can't cycle that far.