(no subject)

[tahnan]

There's a question that linguists get all the time after they tell someone they're a linguist, which is, "How many languages do you speak?" It's an intensely frustrating question, because it misses much of the point of the work a linguist does.

Similarly, I know that friends who have masters' degrees in children's literature dread questions about whether that means that they're writing a children's book. (Also, nearly any question that mentions Harry Potter.)

So I ask my readers, out of curiosity. When you tell people something fundamental about who you are or what you do ("I'm a linguist"; "I have a Masters' in Children's Literature"; "I'm from Serbia"; "I have a wooden leg"; "I brew beer"; or what have you), what question is it that you dread getting in return, but which seems to be fairly inevitable?

Comments

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

What I don't like if someone finds out that you've got a lot of knowledge in one particular field (say, I dunno, cartoons or comics or something) and they take that to mean "I need to stump this guy so I can take him down a peg." What is with that attitude? It would especially come up when I was doing occasional radio appearances as Cartoon Guy: we would talk about cartoons but if you could stump me with a good (but fair) trivia question you'd get movie tickets or something.

On a semi-related (and funny) note: there was a Mystery Hunt puzzle that Story and Qaqaq and were working on, and I got called over when it became apparent that (hope this isn't spoiling anything) comic strips. One of the strips involved was Sherman's Lagoon, and I said "I don't really read that one."

The look on Qaqaq's face of shock and disappointment! It was amusing, yet I wanted to crawl into a hole for tarnishing my rep.

[davidglasser.livejournal.com]

This isn't a job thing, but whenever the fact that I'm colorblind comes out, there's usually at least five or six "what color is my shirt?" questions to fend off.

[flynngrrl.livejournal.com]

"I'm originally from New Jersey."

"Ha ha. What exit? Ha ha ha."

"167."

" - Oh."

I don't mind when people ask what exit because they want to know, or they want to compare exits or something. It's the people who ask because they heard Rosie O'Donnell make a crack about it on Standup Spotlight in 1994 that bug me. They're the ones who always think that their "What exit" comment is going to be the funny last line in a conversation, because they don't know that it's true, they're just parrotting something and laughing at the Jerseyite. When you respond with an actual exit, they get all let down, like you wrecked their joke, which was, of course, all about making fun of your home state. Sons of bitches!!

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

A good friend of mine from New Jersey went to school in Maine. Once he and another person from New Jersey were both asked which exit, and he turned to the other person from NJ and said, "the real question is which area code." The two of them proceeded to have a nice conversation about 973 splitting off from 201 and cell phone overlays, while the person from Maine, which still has only one area code, just stood there looking baffled.

[luckylefty.livejournal.com]

As a mathematician, I get "I can't even balance my checkbook." As a watercolorist, my mother gets "I can't even draw a straight line". We both tend to respond "Neither can I".

There are lots of responses to the fact that I play poker seriously, but lately it's mostly "Those guys on TV are really terrible poker players".

[ennienyc.livejournal.com]

I'm often asked:

Do you make puzzles?
Do you play Scrabble? (or bridge, or chess)
Do you like that new thing, what's it called, with the Japanese name...? (this was a guaranteed one during "Wordplay" Q&A's)

Uh, no.

When researching on the game show I got, "Do you write the questions?"

There's also, "You're from Great Neck! Do you know Mike Cohen?" Answer: "EVERYONE in Great Neck is named Mike Cohen."

[jadelennox]

most of mine have already been answered but:

Children's literature: "I have written and illustrated a picture book -- can you help me get it published?" Or "you got a degree in Dr. Seuss?!?" Or "are you writing a children's book?" Or "what do you think of Harry Potter?" Or my new favorite, which I've been getting a lot here, "what books do you like?" [Answer: "oh, I specialize in middle-grade and young adult books, preferably fantasy and science fiction." Follow-up question is either a blank look or "oh, what children's fantasy books do you read?" Answer: "Er, all of them, time permitting?" Follow-up: blank look.]

Library science: "you studied the Dewey decimal system!" Or, "oh, I remember going to the library!"

RSI: "oh, my wrists hurt all the time! I went and bought hand braces, but they still hurt. What should I do?" [Answer: "Take off the braces, call your doctor, and never type when you were in pain." Follow-up question: "No, seriously, what should I do?"]

Jewish: "So that hole in the sheet thing..."

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

I thought the annoying Jewish question would be: "Would you like to take Jesus Christ as your lord and savior?"

[jenaflynn.livejournal.com]

Depends on the situation:

"What's transgendered mean?"
That leads to this whole spiel where I try to instill politically correct progressive values, while potentially being on the look out for sudden negative or painful reactions.

"What's Unix?"
I usually just lie and say it's on big mainframe computers that are the sizes of buses. That excuses me from fixing their copy of windows.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

wow, tah, this should be a book! a list of careers/hobbies/attributes with the most annoying questions under each heading... let me know if you want a collaborator on it, but you get first dibs 'cos you thought of it!

braiding: what's the most you can do? or (from bald or buzzed guys): can you do me?
juggler: what's the most you can do? can you juggle me? (hmm, detecting a theme here)
writer: have you written a book?
mom: are you done yet? what about overpopulation?
homeschooler: what about socialization? (i just point them to julia and let her handle that one)

[ambar.livejournal.com]

"I have eight horses." "Oh, can we come over and ride sometime?"

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

"I work at an online gambling company." "Oh, so you can cheat at all the games, right?"

[(Anonymous)]

I have a long beard, which gets a variety of comments--"ever heard of shaving?" is one. "Get a shave!" is another, typically yelled from a passing vehicle, always with more than one person in it (since the point of yelling this is to look cool in front of your friends. Grr.)

I should start keeping track of when in the year I first hear "Ho ho ho!"--I wonder if it correlates with the first Christmas decorations...

"How long have you been growing that?" is one I don't mind at all, though.

--Norvin

Question / Response

[(Anonymous)]

"I'm an electrical engineer."

"Oh, do you know how to do household wiring?"

It strikes me that's actually a reasonable question. They don't teach EEs how to be electricians. I'm lucky if I remember which of the three socket-holes do what.

Or:

"I work on making three-dimensional displays."

"Oh, like Princess Leia? I know what you should do -- porn!"


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