(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

[(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