I have decided that I have a list of favorite questions. What I mean is, I love it when some object or occurrence is so uncertain as to have no other name except the ambiguous pronoun “that.” The same goes for “this” “what” “who” and “how”–hopefully you’ll see what I mean. Verbs can also work. “Doing” for example, can mean almost anything. You’d need more information before understanding what action is being taken.
These questions in and of themselves often make me laugh. Mostly it’s because I’m a languge nerd, but also because I think it’s funny when humans are confused by something enough to prompt the need for one of these questions. I like to wonder what could have happen just prior to the utterance.
Also amusing to me is a change in placement of emphasis on a different word in the question. It’s one this to ask what THAT is but it’s another to ask what that IS.
These questions relate very much to the stuff I see & post to this blog in that I find myself wondering one of them before I decide to take a pic. In fact, why not ask one aloud yourself while looking at a photo?
Favorite Questions
1. What the hell is that? Variation: What the hell was that? What the hell is that? What the hell is this?
2. What is that? Variation: What is that?
3. How did that happen? Variation: How did that happen? How did that happen?
4. How did that get there? Variation: How did that get there? How did that get there?
5. What’s the smell? Variation (British style): What’s that pong?
6. What are you doing? Variation: What are you doing? What are you doing? What is she/he doing?
7. (more to come!)
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