Skip to main content

That's a Great Question!


 

I have been listening to a lot of radio interviews lately. There is one phrase that I have been hearing a lot. The interviewer will ask a question and then the interviewee will say “That’s a great question,” or some variant of “ that’s a good,” “great,” or “interesting question.” Are they trying to suck up to the person doing the interview? The subsequent answer usually shows me that in was not in fact a “great question.” It is usually a very average or obvious question. It seems to me the interviewee is just stalling for time while they think up a response.

I think it is sort of the equivalent of saying “uh” or “um” as your brain is stalling to catch up. One time my friends and I played a game where someone starts a story and then you are supposed to continue it as long as you can, but as soon as you say “uh” or “um,” you are done. Most of us only lasted about thirty or forty-five seconds or so (me worst of all). But my wife got on a roll and just kept going. I think we had to stop her after about five minutes or she would still be going. What does that say about her brain versus my brain? I haven’t a clue. Maybe her brain is more organized than mine, or maybe I am more impulsive and it gets me twisted in knots. On the other hand, Barrack Obama interrupts his speech with uh and um a lot, I mean, a lot (although sometimes he uses “aaaaaaaaand”). Yet, he seems like a reasonably organized fellow, so I don’t think I will stress about it too much.

Still, saying uh and um too much has a negative connotation. Maybe that’s why people shift to try to do something else like saying “that’s a great question.” It is happening so often that I am beginning to think that people are being coached to say it when they are formulating an answer. Maybe there is a TED Talk out there, giving such helpful advice. I suppose, just occasionally, the question asked might have been a great question, but that compliment has been so diluted through overuse to be meaningless. So, my recommendation would be, if you are ever interviewed, save that comment for when it is apt.

Star liner

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Retired

  I retired this week. So, big lifestyle changes for me? Not so much. I retired on Thursday. My office had an amazing party for me on Wednesday, lots of food, lots of cards, lots of personal connections. Gifts too, I wish I had told them, no gifts. I really don’t need anything. But all this does make one feel appreciated. It also makes me feel appreciated that they want me to come back on a contractual basis every now and then to impart my institutional knowledge. It is always the case when someone retires, knowledge is lost to the organization. Things have to be relearned by the next generation. This is somewhat offset by the fact that the world is changing through advancing technology etc. So, the knowledge that the retiring person has might eventually become obsolete anyway. Better to go out while you are still on top. We have all seen professional athletes who stayed on well beyond their prime. It would have been better to go out while still on top. But it is a hard thing to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu

My first experience with cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Neuromancer was one of the early works that defined the cyberpunk genre. It was insanely influential. It won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award. But for me, it just did not resonate. I had a hard time visualizing the concepts. It left a bad taste in my mouth for cyberpunk. I mostly avoided the genre. Then a couple of years ago I read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which is cyberpunk (although some people say it is a parody of cyberpunk). Whatever, I liked it. I recently picked up All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu and it immediately became apparent to me that this was cyberpunk. Julia Z is the main character, and I think this is going to be the start of a series following her. She is a hacker (hence cyberpunk). She has got herself in trouble and so she lives on the margins, barely making it. Then a lawyer asks her for her help. His wife has been kidnapped. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Darkness

  There was a moment when I discovered that l liked dark music. I do like dark music. I like minor keys and a haunting theme. I like other kinds of music too, but that darkness speaks to me in a special way. What does that say about me? Am I messed up? I don’t think so. Maybe I am just built that way that haunting tunes or lyrics imparts some inner truth to me. It resonates. I know precisely when I discovered this about myself. It was Summer of 1971. I was 12 years old. I was on a plane with my family heading to Illinois. Airplanes back then did not have much in the way of entertainment, but what they did have were headphones and music channels you could listen to. I was listening to a channel of popular current hits, and a song came on called “That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” by Carly Simon. I had never heard of Carly Simon. This was before “Anticipation” and “You’re so Vain.” She was not yet famous. But this song came on and, I don’t know, it did something to me. It...
Post a Comment
Read more