(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

[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.