2006-11-17 13:25:46 · 22 answers · asked by Seeker 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"Zebra." Because you might as well give a nonsensical answer to a nonsensical question. Another good answer would be "mu." That's how Zen Buddhist monks respond when a question itself is wrong. Or you could just point at the person and scream, "FALLACY!"
By the way, for those who are interested, here's more information on this particular kind of logical fallacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_many_questions
AH! I just noticed this at the bottom of the wikipedia page:
"The hacker jargon term mu (meaning neither yes nor no), can be used to accurately respond to a question of this sort, saying that the question asked carries incorrect assumptions."
Guess I'm not the first person to think of this.
Oh, and here's more on the term "mu":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_%28negative%29
"According to the Jargon File, a collection of hacker jargon and culture, Mu (here pronounced "moo") is considered by Discordians to be the correct answer to the classic logical fallacy of the loaded question "Have you stopped beating your wife?" Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. As a result, various Discordians proposed "mu" as the correct answer, alleged by them to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions". An equivalent English reply would be 'not', instead of 'yes' or 'no', as 'not' is one possible meaning of 'mu'."
2006-11-17 13:35:16 · answer #1 · answered by Brad 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Beating?!
2006-11-17 22:11:33 · answer #2 · answered by eyethoughtzo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmmmm
A bit difficult that one, seeing as I've never 1) been married, 2) beaten a woman
2006-11-17 21:27:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Presumptuous.
2006-11-25 14:16:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Answer :yes. After everyone stops whooping and hollering say: Now I won't play cards with her anymore. I think she cheats.
2006-11-17 21:28:41 · answer #5 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fictitious!!
2006-11-18 07:30:22 · answer #6 · answered by small 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your being polygraphed then you will fail either way you answer it unless you have complete control of you nerves.
2006-11-17 21:29:15 · answer #7 · answered by ujenfo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whoa!
2006-11-17 23:44:30 · answer #8 · answered by Chief of sinners 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My mother is making soup. After all, a stupid question deserves
a stupid answer.
2006-11-17 21:58:59 · answer #9 · answered by hunterentertainment 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defamation!!!
2006-11-18 15:19:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋