A conundrum

[Benjamin Barrett]

If I'm concentrating on something, my answer very well might be no. The question is not only a social nicety approximately meaning "excuse me," but provides the interlocutor a way to avoid needing to consider a serious question when brain resources are at a premium.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Aug 3, 2011, at 7:02 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> One of my pet peeves is people who ask me whether they can ask me a
> question, thereby asking me a question and precluding the possibility
> of my refusing them permission to ask me a question. It is not
> sensible to ask permission to ask a question by asking permission to
> ask a question, given that the only way to ask permission to ask a
> question is by asking a question without permission to ask a question.
>
> A straightforward way out of this is to oblige people to ask questions
> with asking for permission to ask a question.

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