Dates often set question traps to learn about their partner's quirks and traits. For example, Governor Ron DeSantis tests a potential date's correction of his pronunciation of 'Thai food.' Kelsey judges a date's personality based on their favorite Tom Hanks movie. Sarah assesses a date's response to conspiracy theories. Vivian uses a seemingly innocent question to gauge the aftermath of a past relationship. These traps reveal deep insights into the individuals, providing an efficient way to gather crucial information early in a relationship.
An investigation of when and why people ask loaded questions that are a proxy for something else.
- Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks with producer Tobin Low about the question he got asked after he and his husband moved in together, and what he thinks people were really asking. (4 minutes)
- Act One: “What do you think about Beyoncé?” and other questions that are asked a lot, raised by people on first dates. (12 minutes)
- Act Two: When a common, seemingly innocuous question goes wildly off the rails. (13 minutes)
- Act Three: Why are people asking me if my mother recognizes me, when it’s totally beside the point? (14 minutes)
- Act Four: Schools ask their students the strangest essay questions sometimes. The experience of tutoring anxious teenagers through how to answer them requires a balladier, singing their lived experience to a crowd as though it were the Middle Ages. (10 minutes)
Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org