We earlier dissected the “Great question!” gambit, as
wittingly practiced by politicians:
Since that time, that stereotyped response, being after all cordial,
has spread into general use, as simply a polite and friendly, pro-forma and
virtally unnoticed, contribution to the lubrication of a dialogue.
And now, during the pandemic, while the global situation is
dire, it is also extra challenging for reporters. Almost every event and issue beyond Topic A has
evaporated from the landscape.
So a journalist is hard-pressed to come up with substantive questions
that are new or surprising;
naturally, they must run to the hackneyed. And yet the “Great question!” response has been
flourishing like never before.
Here are some examples, from radio interviews (mostly NPR or BBC), of
questions thus coronated for greatness:
* So, how has this all affected you
and your family?
* Have you ever seen anything like
it before?
* Did you ever expect to see
anything like this?
* How long do you think this thing’ll
go on, or is it too early to tell?
[Note: Question posed to a cab-driver, not an epidemiologist.]
[Note: Question posed to a cab-driver, not an epidemiologist.]
* As a mail-carrier (/ short-order
cook /acrobat / circus clown/…), you must feel particularly hard-hit by all
this, am I right?
All of them great, great questions!
Appendix: Here,
by way of contrast, is a contentful question, sensibly commended; significantly the communication is written, not oral:
There have been no cases of
COVID-19 associated with ingestion of food, but the question is well-founded.
COVID-19 is, after all, caused by a virus which enters the body through the
nose or mouth.
-- https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-04-24/does-cooking-food-kill-coronavirus
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