From our earliest days as students, we’re told that there is no such thing as a stupid question. People trying to become better informed is something I encourage. Generally. There are exceptions, of course, when a question buggers the imagination.

Sitting at my desk, I was just part of this exchange earlier today…

Employee: Is Steve here today?

Jeff: I don’t know, I haven’t seen him.

Employee: I just got an email from him so I was wondering.

Jeff: *blinking slowly* Yeah. Why don’t you hit reply and ask him?

Employee: Oh yeah. Good idea.

Jeff: *sigh*

It might be possible that there are no stupid questions, but there are certainly plenty of stupid people.

Editorial Note: This part of a continuing series of previously de-published blogs appearing on http://www.jeffreytharp.com for the first time. This post has been time stamped to correspond to its original publication date.