3 ms·
"Is it alive?" is a classic trap because it may create a broken state if it's a person that is dead. You will never know how someone will respond to "yes, but n
by Kiro 4y ago
"Is it alive?" is a classic trap because it may create a broken state if it's a person that is dead. You will never know how someone will respond to "yes, but no" facts, and since it's such an important question you may end up in the wrong half if there's a mismatch between your interpretations.
Probably the question that leads to most "but you said!" situations.
- jobigoud 4y agoSo the correct question should be something like "Is it, or has it ever been, alive?"
- GeorgeDewar 4y agoVery true. I usually ask "is or was it ever alive", and if yes I'll then ask if it's alive today. Edit: don't know how the similar sibling comment didn't appear to me when I was writing this, since it's from 4 hours ago and I loaded the page less than one hour ago...