"anybody else have clever ways to avoid questions?"
"what questions?"

(it can also be called "acting dumb" , this was my favourite pass time in high school, playing the what game)

PS-- yay, no more high school ever today was the last day

or trick em up by digressing into other topics...

Or I slap them with a sea bass...

*********************
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Theodore Roosevelt

Njorl

"There are some people one should wish to offend."

quote:

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Anybody else have clever ways to avoid questions?

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"What's the best way to fix the economy?"
"Imbeculate, Imbeculate, Imbeculate. That's all we have to do and you would be a fool to think otherwise."

quote:

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Originally posted by Zero:
Or I slap them with a sea bass...

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That's the best solution I've ever heard of...

Actually, I bet making up words like flumuxtions, palsutational, and ingoriactus would thoroughly confuse anyone. I'll have to use those (if I can remember them past the next 30 seconds)...

quote:

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Originally posted by BoulderHead:

quote:

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Anybody else have clever ways to avoid questions?

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I like the politicians answer: "That's a very good question. I'm glad you asked this question because it shows that the American people are not the fools that others people in the world think they are! No, we are a great people who ponder a great many things and...."

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hahaha...Yes!! When-ever someone replies with 'That's a good question!', you can almost see their brain being stumped. 'errrrr geez...I never thought of that' or more likely 'Damn...they weren't meant to ask that'. And Politicians DO tend to use it a lot...as do so-called 'Authorities' on just about any given matter.

Hmmm now lemme think, Pnaimo....that was a good question....

Look at the ceiling in a really thoughtful manner and ask the audience "What do others think?" Then when everyone responds with answers showing they're as clueless as you, side-step the issue as having been 'an interesting question ...maybe you should read this book by khkjj kjjjklj, who asked the same question' and point them to the library.

Accuse them of being attention-seeking wretches who just want to steal any opportunity for their own power-trips

Pat them on the head and say "One day, it will alllllll become clear...'

Make a run for the toilet. Send a messenger back with the news that you've suddenly come down with a severe case of food-poisoning.

Reply with "oh yes, our XYZ Department is working on this RIGHT NOW."

or

"The statistics indicate that bla bla bla bla"

or

"Asking such a question clearly indicates you have no understanding of the issues..."

or

Crack a stupid joke at the querent's expense and proceed to answer another querent's question as though it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

or

Admit defeat and secretly plot for querent's early demise/dismissal.

or

Pretend the question never got asked or state the question was asked by the 'same old group' who 'our constituency, in their wisdom, ignore' for they are 'known trouble-makers'.

or

Eminem style...something like ""F*** yaw mamma. Don't gimme yaw b-*-t-c-h"

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Don't be there in the first place.

Leave if you are there.

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or

Replace every important word with a pronoun:
"What's Hooke's Law?"
"It's basically defined as this is equal to that times those, only until a certain thing is reached"

or

"let me see if I have understood correctly, you are saying that ..." [repeat initial question]

or

Agree with their question, which should confuse them long enough before they realize what just happened.

or

Say: "I'll have the answer as soon as I get the results from Project X"

or

Say: "We should deal with that separately, but what do you feel about the issue X?"
Where X is something along the lines of HIV.

Well, as the title contains a question sign
I'll answer - I rarely avoid questions or discussions.
If I do not know a subject I say so and
declare myself ready to listen if the other person
knows more about the subject. If I know
and he doesn't, I explain it and if he refuses
to accept it's his/her problem.
If the question is unclear to me I ask for a clarification
and then explain/answer.
Most people would ussualy drop out of the discussion,
but I find it often neccessary to break it up to the
smallest and deepest pieces until all is clear - or
at least - has been said. Very often, it turns out that
the other person in such cases is not serious and has not
thought everything through so he/she gets choked
with my questions and explanations while it is
he/she that looses intrest as the discussion becomes too
complex.
Say, pnaimoli.... didn't I just do that ?

"Wise men talk because they have something to say;
fools, because they have to say something."
Plato

Live long and prosper.

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Say, pnaimoli.... didn't I just do that ?

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"Well it's umm, when you have this graph of something against something else and you draw these lines and there's this important point and it's called the triple point..."

quote:

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"Well it's umm, when you have this graph of something against something else and you draw these lines and there's this important point and it's called the triple point..."

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That is one of the funniest things I have read because I hear it WAY too often.

quote:

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It looks like people are following your advice. One of my collegues answered a question regarding the triple point of water.... And I quote...

"Well it's umm, when you have this graph of something against something else and you draw these lines and there's this important point and it's called the triple point..."

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I guess that falls under the category of "pronouns" .

As long as this thread has helped one person, it's done its job.