8 Responses to “why do we ask questions?”
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My name is not Bruce and I am not a woman. I don't dislike speaking in double negatives. I am easily bored. I am passionate about the health of my planet yet I own a cat. I vote because I want to not because I have to. I am easily bored and sometimes repeat myself.
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Because we want to
in pretence that we’re interested in what someone else has to say.
http://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hl=en&rlz=1B2GGGL_enAU177&q=why-do-we-ask-questions&btnG=Search&meta=
Why do you want to know?
Just curious
Curiosity then?
Maybe. I thought there’d be more to it than that.
I was, regrettably, being a little off-hand there. How can I expect others to treat my questions seriously if I don’t? (that one is rhetorical by the way).
I think Viv’s answer is true of the “how-ya-goin’?'’ type questions. Clearly a pretence or at best a show of politeness - no-one really wants to listen to a monologue about why you’re not goin’ all that well.
Curiosity might do for the “where did you get your haircut?'’ and an inate interest in the world around us would explain “why do leaves have stomata on the bottom but not the top?'’ and “Which berries can I eat without dying'’ is clearly about self preservation.
But why do ask questions that we have no hope of ever answering? “why are we here?'’ and “are we alone?'’.
I started for a short time to answer the “how-ya-goin” question honestly I thought I could stop everybody saying it, gave up too soon.