September 19, 2013

"In the morning I grab the clothes that smell cleanest out of the pile of 'clean' clothes on my floor to wear that day…"

"Would you say this is an acceptable way to approach fashion?"

Question asked in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" of fashion critic Robin Givhan. I consider it a rhetorical question, but she did answer it. No, of course, is the obviously right answer, but it's also obviously wrong, since to answer it is to misinterpret it. And yet, if you submit to "Ask Me Anything," aren't you implicitly offering to answer everything? A clever way out would be to say: I said you can ask me anything, but I don't believe you are asking me anything.

"The rhetorical question is... any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks."

Here's a nonrhetorical question: For what purpose did the above-quoted man ask his question?

10 comments:

Ipso Fatso said...

"Then I fumbled in my closet
through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt"

Johnny Cash/Sunday Morning Comin' Down

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

For what purpose did the above-quoted man ask his question?

For the purposes of eliciting a negative response as a way to make RG sound a certain way?

A trap, perhaps.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The questioner sought to make his question the fashion, by seemingly deriding fashion, he fashioned himself to be above fashion and perhaps above the mortals that concern themselves with fashion.

The questioner is old fashion, in other words.

an example of a rhetorical question of my own would be why Am I spending time here instead of looking for something to clothe my people back home?

Admiral Stockdale.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

my people are your people and my God will be your God. or something like that.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That takes me to Josephs tunic.

Maybe the questioner believes that to care about fashion is a little gay?

I have no way of knowing that. I'm speculating.

Rh posted a link yesterday of things, impressions of Paris.

France will never be taken seriously as a nation until its citizens work out that blue and black are the only acceptable colours for a pair of jeans.

It's fashionable not appear to care about fashion, at least not too much.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

BTW that woman at the article with the sweater and leather is terribly dressed. terribly as in horrible.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I love rhetorical question for myself... they are self help motivational.

Big Mike said...

@Ipso, that was the first thing I thought of, too. But it's a Kris Kristofferson song.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is it fashionable to appear uncaring of grammar?

Rhetorical!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.