No such thing as a stupid question

"(There's) no such thing as a stupid question" is a popular phrase with a long history. It suggests that the quest for knowledge includes failure, and that just because one person may know less than others they should not be afraid to ask rather than pretend they already know. In many cases multiple people may not know, but are too afraid to ask the "stupid question"; the one who asks the question may in fact be doing a service to those around them.

Origins

There are no stupid questions

Carl Sagan, in his work The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark said: "There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question".[1]

A woman, recounting a story about an old man who used to answer all her "stupid questions", explained "Chica, if you ask a question it makes you look stupid for 5 minutes – but if you don't ask – you stay stupid for fifty years, so always ask questions in your life".[2]

A 1970 Dear Abby column in The Milwaukee Sentinel said: "There is no such thing as a stupid question if it's sincere. Better to ask and risk appearing stupid than to continue on your ignorant way and make a stupid mistake.[3]

Colin Powell says: "there is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers".[4] Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top says that within the business world, the adage holds true. The book adds "a question might be uninformed, tangential, or seemingly irrelevant, but, whether the presenter perceives it to be stupid or not, every audience member has every right to ask any sort of question".[4]

In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions – When It Counts suggests that there are no stupid questions, rather there are tangential questions, and that these should be dealt with swiftly and effectively.[5]

Designing Field Studies for Biodiversity Conservation says "there's no such thing as a stupid question, as long as it ends in a question mark".[6]

There are stupid questions

The article Ink Out Loud: There's no such thing as a stupid question,' and other ailments lavender cures[7] defines stupid questions as:

  • Those questions that have already been answered, but the asker wasn't listening or paying attention.
  • Questions that can be answered on one’s own with complete certainty. After all, information found online or from other sources can be wrong, so it never hurts to check.
  • Questions of which the answer should be painfully obvious to any person with a pulse who has lived on this Earth for more than a decade.

Questions cited as stupid that were asked by the media pool at the 2000 Super Bowl are "Ray Lewis? Yeah, Ray, how long have you been surrounded by thugs?", "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?", and "Can you name the Backstreet Boys?"[8]

Breaking into the Game Industry argues that the adage (and the related one "the only stupid question is the one that is never asked") is only relevant for the classroom, and that in the real world when you want to try to impress someone, there are many stupid questions one can ask.[9]

School House Diary: Reflections of a Retired Educator notes that teachers are fond of saying this phrase, and suggests that while they themselves want to call out the stupid questions, they fall back on the adage in order to prevent the child from being ridiculed.[10]

gollark: Really.
gollark: It might depend on the physical size of the display.
gollark: I'm pretty sure by default it does 150% scale on laptop-sized displays. That's what I've seen on the laptops of the silly Windows users I know.
gollark: And most of the pixel density is in the middle.
gollark: However, not all of it is used on a monitor at a time.

See also

References
  1. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/538156-there-are-naive-questions-tedious-questions-ill-phrased-questions-questions-put
  2. http://www.experienceproject.com/question-answer/A-Teacher-Once-Said-There-Is-No-Such-Thing-As-A-Stupid-Question-Is-She-Right-Or-Wrong/1801871
  3. Van Buren, Abigail (December 3, 1970). "Time Waits For No One". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  4. Weissman, Jerry (2013-08-22). "Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)". ISBN 9780133443011. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Weissman, Jerry (2013-08-23). "In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions – when It Counts". ISBN 9780133157918. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Feinsinger, Peter (2001-07-01). "Designing Field Studies for Biodiversity Conservation". Island Press: 147. ISBN 9781559638784. no such thing as a stupid question. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Feder, Mandy (2013). "Ink Out Loud: There's no such thing as a stupid question,' and other ailments lavender cures". Lake County Record-Bee. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  8. Finder, Chuck (January 22, 2000). "The Big Picture: No such thing as a stupid question?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  9. Brathwaite, Brenda. "Breaking into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It". ISBN 1435458052. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Roberts, Jerry L (2011-07-20). "School House Diary: Reflections of a Retired Educator". ISBN 9781462008186. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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