When is a question not a question?

When is a question not a question?

a. When it is sarcasm.
b. when it is a challenge.
c. When it is a platform (like this one).

On the surface I’ve had this idea that questions are enquiries- which is a bit silly when experience tells otherwise.

The first time I learned it wasn’t safe to answer every question posed was as a child in grade one and I got the answer wrong. That kept my hand down for about the next 12 years.

Children are masters in the art of the question challenge… “Why should I” for example. And dramatic, melancholic, martyrish parents (hehem) perhaps once or twice in their lives known to employ the sarcasm question tactic. Once attending a seminar I ventured an answer the speaker didn’t want… It was too soon and he had an hours worth of material leading to that point. He wasn’t enquiring, he was planning to illustrate nobody knew what he was leading up to. I’ve since been on the other side of that and it was really hard but I learned from that NOT to ask a question I didn’t want the answer to or if my goal is participation/interaction more than information, then different words are needed.

Sarcasm, challenges and platforms posed as questions mostly dont welcome new or additional information or ideas… They are boxes designed to confine.

Questions used as thought prompts might be different in a true teaching setting… Parent and child, teacher and learner, Master and friend, kitchen, classroom, mountainside, heart – where the end point is truth. The tricky part is being sure to distinguish between truth and/or understanding revealed and a tasty sequential trail of cookie crumbs.