Have you ever been asked a question that you think has no meaning and as a result, you were unable to think about an answer for it? Most times it might not be a mistake, as there exist some questions which in reality don’t have answers to them, or that the individual who asked the question might be up to some prank. No matter what the case might be, Here are some examples of those kinds of questions.
Funny Unanswerable Questions
- Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
- Why is it said that an alarm clock is going off when really it’s coming on?
- Why are both of Spongebob’s parents round like sea sponges while he is square like a kitchen sponge? (isn’t this one great?)
- Isn’t it weird that if you rearrange the word “teacher” you get “cheater”?
- If the FBI breaks your door down do they have to pay for it?
- If you fart and burp at the same time, would it make a vacuum in your tummy?
- Can you cry underwater?
- Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
- If the Wicked Witch of the West melts in the water… how did she ever bathe?
- Do you know the saying “throw ya hands in the air like ya don’t care”? why bother doing that if you don’t care?
- When the French swear do they say pardon my English?
- Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
- If a teacher were to teach a younger grade than they were teaching before, would they be “degraded”?
Unanswerable Philosophical Questions
- What shape is the sky?
- At what point did time begin?
- Why do black lights look purple?
- What comes after cryptocurrencies?
- What existed before the universe?
- Where does the future come from?
- Why isn’t the caps lock capitalized?
- Is karma real or just a human construct?
- Why is there no pine or apple in pineapple?
- Where do all the daylight savings hours go?
- Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don’t lay eggs.
- Why is it that no matter what color of bubble bath you use the bubble is always white?
- Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?
- Do people who use sign language see little hands in their head when they think about what somebody said, or do they hear the words in their head?
- If a king is gay and marries another guy what is that guy to the royal family?
- Why do we say we’re head over heels when we’re happy? Isn’t that the way we normally are?
- Why are elderly people often called “old people” but children are never called “new people”?
- If you dig a hole through the center of the earth, come out on the other side, and then let go, would you be falling down or floating up?
- If ketchup is good on French fries, how come it isn’t good on mashed potatoes?
- Why are dandelions considered weeds when daisies are considered flowers?
- How come they don’t add the time that we are in our mom’s to our age?
- Why do people squint their eyes when they can’t see? Wouldn’t that just make it less space to see out of?
Is There Such Thing as an Unanswerable Question?
As humans, we live our lives every day questioning many unanswerable questions like the very essence of the existence of life, the limitations nature has placed in us, why it is so and our resolve to conquer it. At any point in time when we are unable to give sufficient and satisfactory answers to these questions, they can be termed unanswerable at that particular time.
Thus, not all questions will have answers to them at the particular point when they were asked. If that is the case, a question can be deemed as unanswerable.
What Really Makes a Question Unanswerable?
What qualifies a question or an interrogative sentence/expression to be understood and responded to as a question is obviously the possibility of having an answer. Whether it be a general knowledge question whose answer can be given without deep thought or a more complex philosophical question that demands deep reflection before giving an answer, the bottom line is the existence of an answer to the question posed. But when there’s no known answer to such a question, does it still qualify to be considered a question?
Thus, for a question to be answerable, there must be an existing answer either for it either already known or yet to be known. In any case, where there is no known answer to a question or where all attempts to answer a question intelligently is not satisfactory, such a question can be deemed unanswerable.
How to Answer Difficult Unanswerable Questions Intelligently
No matter how unanswerable a question might be, you can still make a good attempt at showing how knowledgeable you are in the subject matter by doing any of these cleverly thought out things:
- Ask for a repetition of the question
Whenever you are asked a seemingly difficult question, you can buy sometime before you provide an answer by asking that the question be repeated. Obviously, you heard the question clearly the first time and your brain has already started processing what you likely think is an answer to the question.
In addition, the question will most likely be asked a second time with more clarity making it easier for you to attempt giving an answer to it.
- Ask for clarification
When you are still not sure you got all that is required of you to explain, you can simply ask for a calrification in a polite way. This can be “Please would you mind repeating the question? I want to make sure I got all of it.”
- Answer the question in bits
This works best for multifaceted complex questions. Break down the different components of the question and start answering them from the least known to the unknown.
- Discuss the question as you answer it
By starting with what you already know about the question, show how knowledgeable you are on the subject matter by dishing out what you already know. Build a bridge between this and the other aspect of the question which you don’t know and of course you can admit at this point that you don’t know that other aspect of the question.
