The thing that got my attention is that I read one of his books. I think it was, "Your erroneous zones" and it made no mention of appropriate human reactions to your local reality. In other words, he WAS preaching it as a literal! Thirty-eight years later, I still don't respect him because he started out preaching something that I believe is inappropriate at best and pathological at worst.

 

Not a catch phrase, I know.

"Good question" instead of replying straight what I have asked. Makes me sick.

 

"Good question" is just a delaying tactic like, "I'll get back to you on that", or, "I'll take that into consideration".
Resembles being ignored, and nobody likes that.

 

Not following the game at all, I can only guess. But my impression is that it is to distinction two types of passes, perhaps because once something transitions from a normal pass to a play action pass the rules that apply are somehow different.

Correct. Standard drop back pass versus play action where the quarterback has the option of handing off to the halfback or rolling out carrying himself or throwing the ball.

 

"Good question" is just a delaying tactic

Bullseye. The speaker is stalling while he comes up with an answer.

 

"Good question" is just a delaying tactic like, "I'll get back to you on that", or, "I'll take that into consideration".
Resembles being ignored, and nobody likes that.

I don't know of a more appropriate thing to say in situations where these things are said.

I'm toublehooting your equipment, you ask me what I've found, I say, "so far I've found two shorted SCRs", you ask me why, "good question - I dont know yet." Or "I'm not done troubleshooting - I'll get back to you on that" are appropriate answers in my book.

I'm deciding whether or not to go back to school, the wife says "if you quit your full time job, it will make our lives hard. " I reply "I'll take that into consideration" - and, I will. I will consider that in the course of my decision making. But I will not base my decision solely on that remark. There are other factors, and it is my responsibility to weight them and make the final decision. So, what is more appropriate to say than that? I'm not going to say "youre right dear, whatever you say, is what I'll do" and I'm jot going to say "STFU woman your input means nothing."

 

Bullseye. The speaker is stalling while he comes up with an answer.

Not necessarily. There are lots and lots of lousy questions where the proper answer should be, "If you had bothered to READ the first sentence of the assigned material, you would know the answer."

When a student asks a good question -- namely one that indicates that they are thinking about the material and pushing for a deeper understanding -- I like to acknowledge that by letting them know that they've asked a good question. I either then proceed to answer the question (sometimes with a leading question back ala the Socratic Method), tell them that I will be addressing that later (with a specific idea as to how much later, such as "I'll answer that question next," or "I'll cover that issue when we talk about Xxx," or "We need to get through Yyy before we can really answer that question, which we'll be doing next class." If they ask a good question and I don't know the answer, then I'll say, "Hmmm. That's a good question -- and one I'm not sure of the answer to." I'll follow that up usually with one of three things. "Let's think about it and see if we can figure out," or "Here's my best guess at the moment," or "Let me look into that and I'll get back to you."

What I won't do is tell a student that they've asked a good question if I don't think they have. While I won't go out of my way to let a student know it's a bad question, I don't see any need to give out participation trophies, either. So I treat bad questions and average questions the same (though I'm more apt to use the Socratic Method more or longer with a bad question, which is perhaps not always the best thing).

 

Not necessarily. There are lots and lots of lousy questions where the proper answer should be, "If you had bothered to READ the first sentence of the assigned material, you would know the answer."

But you are never allowed to say that out loud. I taught and did training classes for 20 years. The old saying "there is no such thing as a dumb question" was never uttered by anybody who actually had to teach. There are tons of dumb questions. Some days all you get is dumb questions. But you aren't allowed to point it out....

 

Not necessarily. There are lots and lots of lousy questions where the proper answer should be, "If you had bothered to READ the first sentence of the assigned material, you would know the answer."

When a student asks a good question -- namely one that indicates that they are thinking about the material and pushing for a deeper understanding -- I like to acknowledge that by letting them know that they've asked a good question. I either then proceed to answer the question (sometimes with a leading question back ala the Socratic Method), tell them that I will be addressing that later (with a specific idea as to how much later, such as "I'll answer that question next," or "I'll cover that issue when we talk about Xxx," or "We need to get through Yyy before we can really answer that question, which we'll be doing next class." If they ask a good question and I don't know the answer, then I'll say, "Hmmm. That's a good question -- and one I'm not sure of the answer to." I'll follow that up usually with one of three things. "Let's think about it and see if we can figure out," or "Here's my best guess at the moment," or "Let me look into that and I'll get back to you."

What I won't do is tell a student that they've asked a good question if I don't think they have. While I won't go out of my way to let a student know it's a bad question, I don't see any need to give out participation trophies, either. So I treat bad questions and average questions the same (though I'm more apt to use the Socratic Method more or longer with a bad question, which is perhaps not always the best thing).

That looks more considerate and reasonable, WBahn, but I still cannot avoid to feel, deep in my soul that the one qualifying my question as good, is being arrogant. As a non native I risk to use the wrong words, so bear with me.

I cannot say why but I do not like people qualifying my questions in first place.

I prefer just plain answers. If that sounds sound arrogant or childishly demanding, well... what could I say? Maybe it is the knowledge that I am being openly judged: Now, good (later, maybe bad...)

Long time I am not in any clasroom or equivalent (as a student) but still I see people doing that in forums.

One that seems more constructive is "good you asked that".

You could say that I am playing with words... better I stop here.

Be well.

 

That looks more considerate and reasonable, WBahn, but I still cannot avoid to feel, deep in my soul that the one qualifying my question as good, is being arrogant. As a non native I risk to use the wrong words, so bear with me.

I cannot say why but I do not like people qualifying my questions in first place.

I prefer just plain answers. If that sounds sound arrogant or childishly demanding, well... what could I say? Maybe it is the knowledge that I am being openly judged: Now, good (later, maybe bad...)

Long time I am not in any clasroom or equivalent (as a student) but still I see people doing that in forums.

One that seems more constructive is "good you asked that".

You could say that I am playing with words... better I stop here.

Be well.

And part of it is context-dependent.

If you ask a question and the person pauses and appears to be considering the question and then comments that it's a good question in such a way that it appears to be a genuine result of having given the question some thought -- and if the subsequent remarks back that up -- then I don't think anyone should take any kind of offense at it. But if it is doled out as nothing more than an automatic response, I can definitely see that being off-putting.

 

"Don't try this at home"

 

"No user-serviceable parts inside."

Hey! I'll be the judge of that!

 

But you are never allowed to say that out loud. I taught and did training classes for 20 years. The old saying "there is no such thing as a dumb question" was never uttered by anybody who actually had to teach. There are tons of dumb questions. Some days all you get is dumb questions. But you aren't allowed to point it out....

Really?

The teachers, professors and instructors who pointed out dumb questions in front of everybody were the ones I respected the most and still do to this day and believe me for someone in one of those positions gaining and holding my respect is damn hard.

 

Really?

The teachers, professors and instructors who pointed out dumb questions in front of everybody were the ones I respected the most and still do to this day and believe me for someone in one of those positions gaining and holding my respect is damn hard.

You don't dare do it in today's climate -- you'll have the parents demanding that you apologize for hurting Johnny's or Suzie's self-esteem by making them feel inadequate in front of their fellow graduate students.

I wish I could say that I were entirely joking, too, but I can't.

 

My bad. A great way to let others know that your IQ just might be in the double digits.

 

"Hit the ground running"

Outcome of doing the above = Landing flat on your face while the competitor steps right over you because they took the time to analyse the problem.

 

Exactly the same.

By definition any two things that are the same must be exact.

 

That looks more considerate and reasonable, WBahn, but I still cannot avoid to feel, deep in my soul that the one qualifying my question as good, is being arrogant.

And with unspoken words, he is basically insulting the other people who asked questions that did not get branded as "good"....

 

And with unspoken words, he is basically insulting the other people who asked questions that did not get branded as "good"....

That's the point at which I draw the PC line in the sand. It's one thing to get offended if I tell you that your question sucks. It's another to get offended because I told someone else their question was good. I may be willing to not tell you that you're an idiot when you are, but I'm not gonna tell you that you're a genius when you're not.

 

I stilll think that saying "That's a good question" is just about the stupidest thing anybody can say.

Everytime somebody said that to me, I always wanted to say right back:

"I know it's a good question, that's why I asked it. Do you have a good answer for it?"