Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share Seemingly Stupid Questions That Become More Complex The More They're Thought About

People Share Seemingly Stupid Questions That Become More Complex The More They're Thought About
Roos Koole / Getty Images

If you're a parent or you work with children, you've probably been asked at least one question that you initially brushed off as silly, but then later went "...oh wait..."


Sometimes, it's the questions that seem the dumbest that can send you down the rabbit hole of thought. Entire schools of philosophical thought can be built on the back of just a few seemingly-stupid questions.

Reddit user Newgatsbyfitness asked:

What's a question so stupid it gets more complex the more you think about it?

The responses... well ... they certainly got us thinking.

Lemon

Why does store-bought lemonade have imitation flavoring, but furniture polish contains real lemon juice?

- Back2Bach

The Sky

How high up does the sky start?

- polyamquestions

Does It Flam?

Flammable, inFlammable, noninFlammable Why are there 3? Either a thing Flams or it doesnt!

- Seiren-

A Pile

Giphy

How many grains of sand do you need to make a pile?

Are you guys seriously expecting me to believe that if someone pointed and said 'look at that pile of sand' and it was just 4 grains, stuck together in a pyramid, you'd be all 'Yeah, that's a reasonable usage of the word pile'?

That's not a pile - that's just some sand.

- TheMaskedUgly

Sunglasses

Why are most cartoon suns drawn wearing sunglasses? What are they protecting their eyes from?

- -eDgAR-

Who's In Control? 

On the Ricky Gervais show Karl Pilkington once came out with: "Do you control your brain or does it control you?"

They mocked him but damn that made me hmm.

- minxamo8

Holes

How many holes does a straw have?

- BaseballStatsGuy

Colors

Are we seeing the different colors in our brains but using the same word to name them? Like is my blue a different thing from your blue?

- Rallak

Pinnochio

Giphy

What would happen if Pinocchio said "My nose will grow now."

- TheTaylorFish

The Crane Conundrum 

How are cranes built? Immediate answer is with cranes. But how was the first one built?

- DaddyDownstairs

Weak Or Strong

If I punch myself and it hurts, does that mean I'm weak, or am I strong?

- IvanC4975

A Soup? 

Can cereal be considered as soup?

- Mirboi

Green Ranger

Why does the Green Ranger have a dagger that was a flute, that sounded like a synthesizer that's trying to sound like a trumpet? And he blew into it with his helmet on.

- ChessWithTheDevil

The Upside Of A Sloth

Giphy

I once saw a nature documentary say that sloths spend 80% of their lives upside down. That just sounds to me like we're wrong about which is the upside of a sloth.

- Paigezero

The Speed Of Dark

My grandpa used to always ask me how fast light travels. If I could remember the numbers in the moment I would tell him. If not I just told him it was faster than anything else.

He would then say "ok, but how fast does dark travel?" I have thought about this so much over the years.

I think my final answer was that it doesn't, it's just always there. But my mind can't just stop with that. Why is it always there? What is it? Is it just nothingness that we have given a name and definition to, simply so we can contrast the existence of light to the absence of light? What would it be if there were no lights to determine it? Does it have a primal form? It was a very simple question that has taken me down too many rabbit holes in my own mind.

- SunOfNoone

Cinderella

Had a 1st grader ask me this today: "if Cinderella's slippy fit so perfectly, why did it fall off in the first place?"

- pataytersalad

Infinite Power

If I found a genie with infinite power and asked him to grant me infinite powers which one of us would have infinite power?

- xAverageGamer45X

A Hole Is What? 

Many Philosophy questions often sound incredibly stupid up to the point in which you actually try to adequately answer them. Case in point, this one is an incredible pain for me and hurts my brain trying to think about it: "What is a hole?"

- duhemain

Tiny Clone

"If you had a tiny clone of Hitler who did nothing wrong, but had the memories of the original, would you kill him?"

This was said on a letsplay and, outside of the heart amount of comedy that came from asking it, it really makes you think whether the perceived action of an individual can allow disciplinary actions.

- Monic_maker

Eating Cake

So for me the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it too" just always sounded so dumb.. if I have it then why can't I eat it? Then one faithful day I smoked some weed and realized what it actually means.

The reason you can't have it AND eat it is because once you eat it you no longer HAVE it. Now I like that phrase since I get to explain this to everyone else who uses it now knowing what it means.

- Kopextacy

Fish Sight

If we can see water but not air, can fish see air but not water?

- DankBoi3479

Last Names

When did people start creating last names? Also, when did people stop creating last names?

- daviddennison43

Orange

Did they name the fruit orange after the colour or the colour after the colour of the fruit?

- KingClueless123

Chicken Punch

Giphy

If kinetic energy can be converted into thermal energy, how hard do I have to punch a chicken to cook it?

- a_dead_rat11

More Or Less

Is rat poison more poisonous or less poisonous when it is expired?

- peayuanpa

Your You-ness

How are you, you? Like think about your singular consciousness inside your mind. How is that you? This experience of you existing. What is it? Why does it happen?

- the_last_werd

Mike Wazowski

Does Mike Wazowski wink or blink?

- ppxghost


If you cut off Mike Wazowski's legs and arms, do you also behead him?

- Skyfoxalchemy0913

Clean Or Dirty

If you drop soap on the floor is the soap dirty or is the floor clean?

- EmmaDaOne21

Blindness

What's it like to be totally blind?

Everyone just assumes that being blind is the same thing as closing your eyes. But I don't think that's accurate, because we're "seeing" what it looks like with our eyes closed. That's not the same thing as not seeing at all. And we can't ask a blind person to describe it to us because.....how could they? The best I ever heard was here on Reddit where a blind person described being blind as "trying to see through the back of your head."

- PunchBeard

Crumby

Giphy

How small does a potato chip have to be before it is considered a crumb?

- poop_stains

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Charlize Theron (left) responds to Timothée Chalamet’s (right) controversial comments about ballet and opera.
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Jamie McCarthy/WireImage

Charlize Theron Gives Timothée Chalamet A Blunt Reality Check About His Future After His Comments Insulting Ballet

Timothée Chalamet declaring that “no one cares” about ballet and opera was always going to age poorly. It just happened faster than expected.

Enter Charlize Theron, who didn’t just disagree—she flipped the whole argument, suggesting that while centuries-old art forms will endure, Chalamet’s own career may be far more vulnerable in the age of artificial intelligence.

Keep Reading Show less
Caitlyn Jenner; Donald Trump
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Caitlyn Jenner Slammed For Hypocrisy After Revealing That She Asked Trump To Fix Gender On Her Passport So She Can Travel Again

Former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner recently revealed she can no longer travel internationally after the Trump administration's new passport policy required her to be marked as "male," and is receiving backlash for writing a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to get it changed.

Jenner, a transgender woman, has long aligned herself with the MAGA movement, which is diametrically opposed to LGBTQ+ equality and has led an attack against transgender rights that culminated in legislation banning or restricting gender-affirming care in GOP-led legislatures in more than half the country.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @oz11201's TikTok video
@oz11201/TikTok

Hero Oklahoma Principal Crowned Prom King In Emotional Viral Video After Tackling Would-Be School Shooter

On April 7, Pauls Valley High School in Oklahoma was breached by twenty-year-old Victor Hawkins, a former student who showed up at the school armed with a gun.

Fortunately, upon his entry into the school, Principal Kirk Moore did not hesitate to full-body tackle him and disarm him, keeping him down until authorities arrived, all while sustaining a shot to the leg.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
C-SPAN

Trump Dragged After Making Bizarre Joke About His Age—And, Yeah, He Wishes

79-year-old President Donald Trump had people raising their eyebrows after he, during a discussion about Social Security, tried to claim—jokingly, one hopes—that he's "not a senior" citizen.

Trump, who turns 80 in June, was discussing his administration's pledge that Social Security benefits would be tax-free when he claimed that "seniors are loving me" and proceeded to ramble incoherently.

Keep Reading Show less
Joshua Jackson reacts to an unexpectedly awkward question about his father.
@paceybanks/X

Joshua Jackson Was Just Asked About The 'Best Advice' He Got From His Dad—But There's One Awkward Problem

What started as a standard red carpet question quickly veered into uncomfortable territory when Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson was asked about advice from a father who wasn’t actually part of his life. Jackson has long been open about his difficult non-relationship with his father, John Carter.

Back in 1998, Jackson spoke candidly to The Seattle Times about his parents’ divorce, describing it as a turning point in his childhood.

Keep Reading Show less