What's This All About?
Do I ask more questions than most people? Can this be true? And, in which case, why should this be? What am I trying to find out?
Yes, yes, I ask a lot of questions, I know.
Sometimes, if I meet someone who's new to me and who seems interesting, I'm just trying to get them to talk generally, to find out what makes them tick, and how they think, and then I might just ask a great big question to see what the answer is. "So what was the best thing about your thirty years in a Tibetan monastery?"
Sometimes I'm trying to keep the conversation going, and get the other person to explain further, because what the other person's saying is interesting, and then I'll use the kind of questions that do just that - the equivalent of the "Like how d'you mean?" and "Yerwha'?" that I sometimes use in medical roleplays when the medical students insist on saying "cholecystectomy" instead of "removing your gall bladder".
Sometimes I'm trying to find out facts, and then I'm like a little terrier that won't let go - if someone has an area of knowledge that interests me, I'll just keep on at them until they cough up as much as I can understand.
But do I understand people who don't ask questions? No, I do not.
I'm always amazed by people who don't seem interested in what's going on around them, and in new people whom they meet. Granted, I find it's possible to tell fairly quickly whether someone will interest me or not. I think I once told you about the man from Guildford whom I sat next to at a posh dinner. I knew I was in for a dull night when his opening question to me was:
"So have you ever been to Guildford?"
and when I said No, his reply was,
"Well, I'll describe the journey from my house to Sainsbury's."
I hope I don't ask intrusive questions: though sometimes, if I'm interested in someone's story, I'll get on a roll and then think "Hey, Daphne, I think you've gone one question too far there." If I met that Alison from the Embarrassing Bodies programme I just know I'd be asking her what she hoped to gain by giving the whole nation a clear view of her Embarrassing Vulva.
Still, I'm always prepared to answer questions that other people ask me (though I might not if they're rude questions, so there).
Occasionally I encounter people who never seem to want to ask a single question about anything, and they baffle me. That old "curiosity killed the cat" saying that my grandmother used to say to me when I asked about anything at all, really, is just plain wrong. When I'm tired of asking questions, I'll be tired of life. Do you feel the same?
Yes, yes, I ask a lot of questions, I know.
Sometimes, if I meet someone who's new to me and who seems interesting, I'm just trying to get them to talk generally, to find out what makes them tick, and how they think, and then I might just ask a great big question to see what the answer is. "So what was the best thing about your thirty years in a Tibetan monastery?"
Sometimes I'm trying to keep the conversation going, and get the other person to explain further, because what the other person's saying is interesting, and then I'll use the kind of questions that do just that - the equivalent of the "Like how d'you mean?" and "Yerwha'?" that I sometimes use in medical roleplays when the medical students insist on saying "cholecystectomy" instead of "removing your gall bladder".
Sometimes I'm trying to find out facts, and then I'm like a little terrier that won't let go - if someone has an area of knowledge that interests me, I'll just keep on at them until they cough up as much as I can understand.
But do I understand people who don't ask questions? No, I do not.
I'm always amazed by people who don't seem interested in what's going on around them, and in new people whom they meet. Granted, I find it's possible to tell fairly quickly whether someone will interest me or not. I think I once told you about the man from Guildford whom I sat next to at a posh dinner. I knew I was in for a dull night when his opening question to me was:
"So have you ever been to Guildford?"
and when I said No, his reply was,
"Well, I'll describe the journey from my house to Sainsbury's."
I hope I don't ask intrusive questions: though sometimes, if I'm interested in someone's story, I'll get on a roll and then think "Hey, Daphne, I think you've gone one question too far there." If I met that Alison from the Embarrassing Bodies programme I just know I'd be asking her what she hoped to gain by giving the whole nation a clear view of her Embarrassing Vulva.
Still, I'm always prepared to answer questions that other people ask me (though I might not if they're rude questions, so there).
Occasionally I encounter people who never seem to want to ask a single question about anything, and they baffle me. That old "curiosity killed the cat" saying that my grandmother used to say to me when I asked about anything at all, really, is just plain wrong. When I'm tired of asking questions, I'll be tired of life. Do you feel the same?
posted by Daphne at 1:38 pm
7 Comments:
I can imagine you on a desert island with Man Friday.
So do you think we'll be rescued ? No ? Why not ? Not on the shipping lanes ? Well what about planes ? A passing submarine ? Canoe ? Should we build a fire then ? will these branches burn ? And by the way, ever been to Guildford ?
Friday ? Friday ? Put that rock down. FRI.........
Some people are trained not to ask questions during infancy. This makes me inarticulately angry.
I made a point of never asking questions during infancy
After thirty years in a Tibetan monastery I hope that you would understand that the best truth is often to be found in the silence between the words and in the time we spend waiting. Interest in life is not necessarily about energetic enquiry. Facts are perhaps like the feather in "Forrest Gump".
Generally I do feel the same. Some of us have a curious nature it seems.
Oh, so I can blame you!
NO, I'm not being rude when I ask questions! I'm interested in other people's different experiences.
Of course, I refrain from asking questions that I guess the person gets constantly.
"Did those hurt?" Well, *obviously* they hurt, so can you please ask the question you *want* to ask?
Yesterday I got to ask "What's it like being colour blind?" and "What's it like living in Russia?" which was good. The more different the experiences to my own, the better.
oh we should all get to ask you one question and in return you ask one of us.
mine would be:
if you were to pass on one line of wisdom what would it be?
x
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