Taxonomy Of Good Questions

I was so excited today that Freakonomics did an episode on the weirdness of "That's a good question!" It's a crazy verbal tic that I've noticed popping up all over the place -- particularly out of my own mouth -- and it usually goes a bit like this.

Person: Are there infinitely many primes in the Fibonacci sequence?
Me: That's a good question!

I'll let you listen to the Freakonomics podcast (cause face it, you really should be anyways) to hear what they think about it, but it got me thinking about the various reasons that I say it, because believe you me, I say it all the time. And it turns out, there is no uniform situation, and it really all comes down to the delivery.

1. That's a good question! This is the ultimate "good question" power move, you are simultaneously getting yourself in the good graces of the asker, and signaling to them that you know it's a good question because you've obviously already thought about it. So you have the doubly-whammy of looking benevolent and prepared. For example,

   Asker: Should this method also work for odd primes?
   Me: That's a good question! Let me give you my preprint on the odd prime case!

   Of course it doesn't always go over like that.
2. That's a good question. If item 1 is the "good question" power move, this is like the total impotence move. With just this slight change in enunciation, this becomes my conversational bridge when I'm stalling for time. It is usually accompanied by some sort of silent postlude and awkward shuffling of feet and darting of eyes. For example,

   Asker: Do you think there should be a purely homological approach to this problem?
   Me: That's a good question...(crap, why didn't I think of that).

3. That's a good question! This is the more sassy cousin of items 1 and 2, and typically involves some wild gesticulating, rolling of eyes, and general abundance of attitude. For example,

   Asker: Why didn't that cute guy from the gym ever call you back?
   Me: That's a good question!

Also worth mentioning, when stated this way, the implicit assumption is that the answer to the questions is obvious to both parties. Although maybe not to the cute guy at the gym. So where can you find this podcast? Good question! It's embedded below, but of course it's also available on iTunes, stitcher, and wherever you do your podcasting.