More often than not when I ask a "stupid" question it turns out that the answer isn't known (to the people I'm asking). So I try to do so more often. I've notic

More often than not when I ask a "stupid" question it turns out that the answer isn't known (to the people I'm asking). So I try to do so more often. I've noticed that it also makes others feel empowered to ask "dumb" questions too (which usually aren't), so it's a good policy for the team as well as the individual. I'd imagine that it's not so viable in more aggressive/competitive/toxic environments though? But I've been lucky avoiding those. Edit: Oh and sometimes my questions do turn out to be ... a bit dim. Most recent case that springs to mind was asking the local equivalent of "what does SSN stand for?" in a context where I really should have known. But the average outcome is good.