When you’re learning at school or university, teachers and professors constantly encourage you to ask them questions and follow that with adding that there aren’t stupid questions. But deep down we know that stupid questions exist and some people aren’t afraid to voice them.
Maybe the person who came up with that phrase really underestimated how stupid and clueless people can be. But Twitter user Pey didn’t. She wanted people to tell her what are some stupid question that they have ever received. And there were some ridiculous ones in the thread that were so bad they were hilarious.
Image credits: PeyMamas
Image credits: Sam Davis
We all ask stupid questions from time to time so let’s just have a good laugh from this list. Also, we would be interested to hear what stupid questions people have asked you? If you’re feeling brave, you can share the questions you asked and realised where not necessary.
More info: Twitter
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The Twitter user who asked the question to receive more questions is Pay and she is a mother and a certified fitness trainer and a nutritionist. Pay explained that she asked the question because she was thinking of how people always ask where she last put an item she is searching for and can’t find. Because if she knew where she put it, it wouldn’t be lost. The tweet didn’t blow up but it got some pretty funny responses and we wanted to show you them.
*ignorant. Can easily happen if one isn't exposed to other cultures.
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I can relate to this one. Never had any contact with a person with braids. How can one know? I only know of braids that hold for a few hours. Not this permanent kind. I just happen to live in an all white community. You ask and you learn.
Honestly same, as a kid I was always confused about how do they have such long and thicker hair whenever I see Box braids
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I’m so confused. Would you think this was “one honest question” if the kid with braids was white? The kid was ignorant but not striving to be offensive. Can’t say the same about you. 😅
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Tbh, I used to think that before I knew better. And then I met someone from Africa ( I don't recall which nation), when I was 12 and she had extension but the kind painfully tarred or melted on her head. I'm dead serious. I then thought some people with that nationality couldn't grow hair and that's how they all get their hair. I later learned. I can see it being an annoying, offensive question, though.
Excusable if it was early elementary school, cuz they haven't figured a lot of things out yet. They think teachers live in the school. But older? Yikes
Not really. We learn at any age. It's okay to not know something and it doesn't make anyone dumb to not know and want to know.
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The child didn't know any better and naively asked. I suppose it was first or second grade... would help to know in order to judge. How many educated people don't realize the simplest facts? The other day a PHD in Psychology was astonished to find out milk cows had to get pregnant to give milk. She was 32 with a degree! And she lives in Austria, it's not like there aren't any cows there!
I'm 37 and I just learned that from you. A PHD doesn't give you the knowledge about everything there is to know about everything in the world. Psychology is a specific field. Farming and animal biology is another different field. I'm sure there are things that are common knowledge for some and not you. Have some understanding. We learn something new everyday for our whole life.
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If you want to insult yourself and identify as a demeaning slang word feel free, but don't speak for others.
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I would have said, "Absolutely! I started growing these beautiful braids while still in the womb!".
the stupidity - Well ignorance. I was a white boy in a majority black school, so I guess thats why this seems dumb to me........ Maybe if she put what year (of education) this was it'd be more in context lol
When I was six I thought the same thing- I was such a dense little child
Yes they do. Then change your hair the next day. Imagine she would probably ask something like are you related to you. Because her hair grows out in braids. Clearly you have different hair. Yes I'm playing off the you all look alike.
That isn't stupidity that is child innocence, or ignorance. A ton of kids say just blunt honest things, and if they never seen or talked about somehting of couse they know s**t all. I mean half the s**t I "learned" about african american's was from a racist dad, so yeah first time we had one in school most kids were "oh f**k if half that s**t is true were f****d, wait why is nothing adding up way my dad told me it should..." Like only thing that almost stuck was "they smell like lotion," turns out you use lotion you smell like it who would thunk, rest was just b******t we had to learn was wrong while not pissing off that poor kid who got stuck with our asses who were pumped full of missinformation
Primary school kids might not know that individual hairs each have their own follicle, but by middle school this should be known. Dumb question? Depends on the age of the asker.
Or, when your hair is a buzz cut one day and the next you come in with long braids. "How'd your hair get so long?" Every. Single. Time.
I believe Blondie wouldn't ask that question. But she could have been blonde.
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We need an age for reference. Is the asker 5 and it's a a case of lack of knowledge or 15 and it's a case of lack of brain cells?
If you were there and you are not white it was not an all white school. Majority.
It’s pointing out what the school is. They aren’t saying anything rude they are just pointing out that the school mostly had white students
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My first year at a black high school and I was asked if I bathed in milk.
Ummm.....i think someone missed their history lesson
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As mentioned, teachers often tell you that there are no stupid questions. By saying that they want to encourage students to don’t be afraid to show that they don’t know or understand something. They try to convince them that seeking knowledge is always a positive thing.
Another common phrase people say is that there are no stupid question, only stupid answers shifting the unwanted quality from the person who asks to the person who needs to answer. But all in all, the phrase is there to make sure a person seeking knowledge is not being punished for not learning the information yet.
Carl Sagan who was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator and certainly an intelligent person entertained the idea. He wrote in his book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark: "There are naïve questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question."
However, there are people who would argue with that. For example, the genius mind himself, Albert Einstein once said, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” The physicist leads us to believe that the universe may have limits, but people’s lack of intelligence will never cease to surprise.
That could be applied to our today’s topic. If human stupidity is infinite then logically stupid questions do exist because people come up with them.
Friendly piece of advice: don’t call me at 3 am if you want to keep those legs of yours
And the proof is in the pudding. The questions people in this list ask are really unnecessary and you don’t always understand if they are being serious or you’re getting trolled. Maybe it could be fine if children were asking them but it should be unacceptable for grown adults.
At the end of the day we can agree that stupid questions do exist but we shouldn’t be too mad at people who ask them. Maybe they genuinely don’t know and you can be the one to explain an important thing a person should have the knowledge of.
Reminds me of that XKCD comic where completing Mavis Beacon unlocks capital numbers.
What a dumb question. Everyone knows they don’t have birthdays in Korea. They just sort of slowly appear and it’s hard to tell the beginning date
I had a coworker whose religion banned tattoos. Every two weeks she went to someone and had a new henna design drawn on because she loved body art. They were often multicolored because she loved flowers. Depending where the question was asked, it may have been a legitimate query.
There was a strange phase in the early 2000s where girls who could see fine would buy non-prescription glasses from Claire's to look smart.
I have no idea how the USA's army work but yeah.. You are on the army, but which one? Air army, Sea army, Ground army... or whatever it is said in English
Note: this post originally had 36 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I have been asked twice (in Germany and the Netherlands) if my country (Spain) has drinkable water. I know that we are poorer but, yes we have drinkable water and also toilets and roads...
Not having drinkable tap water doesn't necessarily mean poor! I also research that before i travel!
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More often than not the question "Do you work here?" is eyerolling, I mean what else would I be doing wearing clothes with the store name, logo & name badge on them, but I remember the time I was working at Barnes and Nobel, in the music/movie section, behind the desk, at the register, actively typing on it & got the question. I still can't imagine what that lady thought I was doing back there.
To be fair, “do you work here?” might mean, “in this department,” since I’ve been told by retail workers that they don’t work in the department they happen to be standing in.
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A woman asked me why there are so much more cancer deaths and still nobody is calling that a pandemic......... *huge facepalm*
Oh Lord. Leaving aside the actual reason, this reminds me of a post on here a few days ago pointing out that 'cancer deaths' encompass tons of different types of cancer, while Covid is literally just one disease. I wish people understood that.
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I have chronic insomnia and when I mention it people say, "Why can't you sleep?" Like bish, if I knew, I would fix it.
Oh that sucks. I also have sleeping problems, not as bad, but still bad. I know your pain.
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There *are* stupid questions: there is a class of questions/statements that are classified as "not even wrong." These are questions with so many faulty/misunderstood premises that they make no sense. "Why are all bats made of cheese?" "What is the melting point of 3?" "How do yoga mats type?"
While I was mowing her neighbor's lawn (my truck and trailer right there at the curb) a lady asks me if I know anyone who cuts grass. I told her I did and gave her someone else's business card.
I get questions about my red hair a lot. Were you born with that hair color? Is it real? No, I soke my hair in the blood of my enemies every night since I was born. That's why it's red.
Snort-laugh! I'm going to try that before I run out of enemies
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A little bit of self-own here but: I’m Czech and I was flying home to visit my family. Me and my sister agreed to meet in Berlin since that’s where my plane was to land, and take the train together. We had a bit of time to kill, so we were strolling around and stopped by the Reichstag. I was looking at it and asked her, in all seriousness: “is this where Nuremberg processes took place?” She just turned to me: “say that again but slowly”. In my defense, jet lag is pain.
Not really. We learn at any age. It's okay to not know something and it doesn't make anyone dumb to not know and want to know. It's sad as hell that people actually think because they know something and someone else doesn't know it or they think someone else should know it. No! There is nothing wrong with not knowing anything and asking about whatever it is so they can know and learn. It's the people that make you feel like s**t for asking that are the problem. It's like a lot of people have forgotten how to treat others. Or they know and just don't care to do better. I'm 35 years old and still learning and not afraid to admit I am ignorant about a lot of things. But I want to learn and do better. Honestly if you think differently, than that speaks to your ignorance as well.
A friend called my home phone (landline) at 2am and asked if I was stuck in traffic.
Pre cell phone days my best friend would call me and she would always ask, "where you at?" 25 years later we still laugh about it.
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I'm from Texas but lived in Orlando for a few months and met a lot of international tourists there to visit DisneyWorld and Universal Studios. When I told a teenager from Ireland that I grew up in Texas she asked if we rode horses to school.
When I was younger and living in Ottawa (this was mid-80s), I went to see the changing of the guard in front of Parliament. Now, this was a summer day and it was hot and sticky (think 32C/89F but with humidex far more warmer). Everyone is in shorts and tshirts and the poor guards (with wool uniforms and bearskin hat) were just sweating. As I'm watching the procession, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I see a family (mom, dad and 3 kids), all in winter gear (!?!?). It's the dad. "Where's the snow???" Really?!? In July?!? :/ "Uh.. no snow in July.. you'd have to go West to the Rockies or north to the Arctic circle." Huff from dad and they trudge back to the station wagon on the road, with ski rack (and skis) on it.
Don't even let me start with that 😉 My favourite stupid questions (that I was asked): - Where does my password come from? (While the person was asked to come up with the password); - How do you know that green is really green? Maybe it's orange and you are calling it wrong; - I saw a statue on the grave that looked like you, are you sure it's not your grave?
At the cafe I worked at when I was 20, I was regularly asked if the Vegetarian Chilli had meat in it.
At the age of 19, my then boyfriend was shocked that I (a girl) didn't have an adam's apple. I said - well that's why they call it Adam's, only men have it. He said - that's not true, my mom has it, and then ran to the other room to confirm lol. Ofc she didn't have it either, which shocked him too.
My daughter came home from school one day (1st grade) and said ..."Mom, did you know that you know my dad?" It was so funny at the time. Her dad and I split when she was around 3. She told everyone we met for weeks.
This is really embarrassing but when I was 17 I wrote down the ingredients for a recipe and went to buy them. I asked the man in the grocery store for half a cucumber.
My all time favorite dumb question as a 911 dispatcher is what's the number for 911 asked by someone who's lived in the United States their entire life
My younger cousin once told me "if you don't stop being mean to me I won't be your cousin anymore".... Like, Dude, I got some bad news for ya.
Classic questions while working at hotel! In which floor is room 245? In which floor is the reception? To go to the second floor from the ground level i press up or down? (I'm not kidding)
In some countries the ground floor is not the first floor.
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I worked on a car ferry for 25 years. One day in the mess hall we were talking with the chief steward. She told us that at least twice a year, a passenger would ask her "Has this ship sunk before?" She was getting so annoyed by it that now when someone asks, she answers: "Yes! We sink it twice a year to test the watertight doors!"
I was working takeout at a local restaurant when a kid about 12 years old came to the window and spent a few moments looking over our list of ice cream varieties we had. Then he asked me "Do your ice creams contain dairy products?"
Once as teen working in a record store was asked why I didn’t have any original recordings of Beethoven on CD actually performed by Beethoven and not other people
I work at a DIY store and we make key's. Once I made a key for a woman of her frontdoor and she asked if we had a door where she can try if it fits...
Worked at grocery store, Customer asked where skim milk was, all he could find was 2%, 1%, and 0%
I remember seeing this clip of a guy and a girl in a car, dashcam on them instead of on the road... The guy is driving. He asks the girl how many miles he drives in an hour, when the average speed is 60 miles per hour. The poor girl just doesn't know, and she starts asking all kinds of questions, claiming that she doesn't have enough information to answer that question. The guy keeps a straight face, and embarrasses her by posting the clip on social media.
"If humans came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" I dunno, man, if you came from your mum, why is there still your mum?
Customer asked me the difference between pulled pork and beef brisket. She had the grace to be embarrassed when I told her one comes from a cow and one comes from a pig
As a student I worked as a tour guide at a concentration camp memorial site for a summer. More than once I was asked (mostly by American tourists) what Hitler was "doing these days"! That was in 1999. Even if he hadn't killed himself in 1945, he would have been 110 years old by then.
I work in a grocery store and when the c-19 panic buying was going on a lady asked if we were "going through a famine.) I said "no there's a global pandemic" (usa-dumbass community)
I have been asked twice (in Germany and the Netherlands) if my country (Spain) has drinkable water. I know that we are poorer but, yes we have drinkable water and also toilets and roads...
Not having drinkable tap water doesn't necessarily mean poor! I also research that before i travel!
Load More Replies... More often than not the question "Do you work here?" is eyerolling, I mean what else would I be doing wearing clothes with the store name, logo & name badge on them, but I remember the time I was working at Barnes and Nobel, in the music/movie section, behind the desk, at the register, actively typing on it & got the question. I still can't imagine what that lady thought I was doing back there.
To be fair, “do you work here?” might mean, “in this department,” since I’ve been told by retail workers that they don’t work in the department they happen to be standing in.
Load More Replies... A woman asked me why there are so much more cancer deaths and still nobody is calling that a pandemic......... *huge facepalm*
Oh Lord. Leaving aside the actual reason, this reminds me of a post on here a few days ago pointing out that 'cancer deaths' encompass tons of different types of cancer, while Covid is literally just one disease. I wish people understood that.
Load More Replies... I have chronic insomnia and when I mention it people say, "Why can't you sleep?" Like bish, if I knew, I would fix it.
Oh that sucks. I also have sleeping problems, not as bad, but still bad. I know your pain.
Load More Replies... There *are* stupid questions: there is a class of questions/statements that are classified as "not even wrong." These are questions with so many faulty/misunderstood premises that they make no sense. "Why are all bats made of cheese?" "What is the melting point of 3?" "How do yoga mats type?"
While I was mowing her neighbor's lawn (my truck and trailer right there at the curb) a lady asks me if I know anyone who cuts grass. I told her I did and gave her someone else's business card.
I get questions about my red hair a lot. Were you born with that hair color? Is it real? No, I soke my hair in the blood of my enemies every night since I was born. That's why it's red.
Snort-laugh! I'm going to try that before I run out of enemies
Load More Replies... A little bit of self-own here but: I’m Czech and I was flying home to visit my family. Me and my sister agreed to meet in Berlin since that’s where my plane was to land, and take the train together. We had a bit of time to kill, so we were strolling around and stopped by the Reichstag. I was looking at it and asked her, in all seriousness: “is this where Nuremberg processes took place?” She just turned to me: “say that again but slowly”. In my defense, jet lag is pain.
Not really. We learn at any age. It's okay to not know something and it doesn't make anyone dumb to not know and want to know. It's sad as hell that people actually think because they know something and someone else doesn't know it or they think someone else should know it. No! There is nothing wrong with not knowing anything and asking about whatever it is so they can know and learn. It's the people that make you feel like s**t for asking that are the problem. It's like a lot of people have forgotten how to treat others. Or they know and just don't care to do better. I'm 35 years old and still learning and not afraid to admit I am ignorant about a lot of things. But I want to learn and do better. Honestly if you think differently, than that speaks to your ignorance as well.
A friend called my home phone (landline) at 2am and asked if I was stuck in traffic.
Pre cell phone days my best friend would call me and she would always ask, "where you at?" 25 years later we still laugh about it.
Load More Replies... I'm from Texas but lived in Orlando for a few months and met a lot of international tourists there to visit DisneyWorld and Universal Studios. When I told a teenager from Ireland that I grew up in Texas she asked if we rode horses to school.
When I was younger and living in Ottawa (this was mid-80s), I went to see the changing of the guard in front of Parliament. Now, this was a summer day and it was hot and sticky (think 32C/89F but with humidex far more warmer). Everyone is in shorts and tshirts and the poor guards (with wool uniforms and bearskin hat) were just sweating. As I'm watching the procession, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I see a family (mom, dad and 3 kids), all in winter gear (!?!?). It's the dad. "Where's the snow???" Really?!? In July?!? :/ "Uh.. no snow in July.. you'd have to go West to the Rockies or north to the Arctic circle." Huff from dad and they trudge back to the station wagon on the road, with ski rack (and skis) on it.
Don't even let me start with that 😉 My favourite stupid questions (that I was asked): - Where does my password come from? (While the person was asked to come up with the password); - How do you know that green is really green? Maybe it's orange and you are calling it wrong; - I saw a statue on the grave that looked like you, are you sure it's not your grave?
At the cafe I worked at when I was 20, I was regularly asked if the Vegetarian Chilli had meat in it.
At the age of 19, my then boyfriend was shocked that I (a girl) didn't have an adam's apple. I said - well that's why they call it Adam's, only men have it. He said - that's not true, my mom has it, and then ran to the other room to confirm lol. Ofc she didn't have it either, which shocked him too.
My daughter came home from school one day (1st grade) and said ..."Mom, did you know that you know my dad?" It was so funny at the time. Her dad and I split when she was around 3. She told everyone we met for weeks.
This is really embarrassing but when I was 17 I wrote down the ingredients for a recipe and went to buy them. I asked the man in the grocery store for half a cucumber.
My all time favorite dumb question as a 911 dispatcher is what's the number for 911 asked by someone who's lived in the United States their entire life
My younger cousin once told me "if you don't stop being mean to me I won't be your cousin anymore".... Like, Dude, I got some bad news for ya.
Classic questions while working at hotel! In which floor is room 245? In which floor is the reception? To go to the second floor from the ground level i press up or down? (I'm not kidding)
In some countries the ground floor is not the first floor.
Load More Replies... I worked on a car ferry for 25 years. One day in the mess hall we were talking with the chief steward. She told us that at least twice a year, a passenger would ask her "Has this ship sunk before?" She was getting so annoyed by it that now when someone asks, she answers: "Yes! We sink it twice a year to test the watertight doors!"
I was working takeout at a local restaurant when a kid about 12 years old came to the window and spent a few moments looking over our list of ice cream varieties we had. Then he asked me "Do your ice creams contain dairy products?"
Once as teen working in a record store was asked why I didn’t have any original recordings of Beethoven on CD actually performed by Beethoven and not other people
I work at a DIY store and we make key's. Once I made a key for a woman of her frontdoor and she asked if we had a door where she can try if it fits...
Worked at grocery store, Customer asked where skim milk was, all he could find was 2%, 1%, and 0%
I remember seeing this clip of a guy and a girl in a car, dashcam on them instead of on the road... The guy is driving. He asks the girl how many miles he drives in an hour, when the average speed is 60 miles per hour. The poor girl just doesn't know, and she starts asking all kinds of questions, claiming that she doesn't have enough information to answer that question. The guy keeps a straight face, and embarrasses her by posting the clip on social media.
"If humans came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" I dunno, man, if you came from your mum, why is there still your mum?
Customer asked me the difference between pulled pork and beef brisket. She had the grace to be embarrassed when I told her one comes from a cow and one comes from a pig
As a student I worked as a tour guide at a concentration camp memorial site for a summer. More than once I was asked (mostly by American tourists) what Hitler was "doing these days"! That was in 1999. Even if he hadn't killed himself in 1945, he would have been 110 years old by then.
I work in a grocery store and when the c-19 panic buying was going on a lady asked if we were "going through a famine.) I said "no there's a global pandemic" (usa-dumbass community)
