That's the same thing that I thought as I read the article. In fact, to me the article comes across as having a slightly whiny tone. Sure, there are questions t

That's the same thing that I thought as I read the article. In fact, to me the article comes across as having a slightly whiny tone. Sure, there are questions that may not be the most pleasant to hear or answer or may even seem ignorant, but I doubt very much that that is exclusive to grad students. The author seems to have lost sight of the idea that these questions, even if they are not perfect, are often just intended to be a polite way of displaying interest. If somebody asks "When will you finish your thesis?", why take that as an annoying question? It allows you to say whether your research is going as expected, whether you've encountered strange hurdles along the way, in the research, in writing the thesis etc. Or perhaps things are moving swimmingly and you can proudly say you're going to finish much sooner than anticipated. Those questions could be construed as annoying, but I don't think they're worth any special consideration over "when will you find a girlfriend?"