“Is water wet?” and other questions to ask today

Happy National Ask a Stupid Question Day! Today’s the day you get a free pass on asking dumb questions like, “Do fish get thirsty?” or “Why isn’t 11 pronounced ‘onety-one’?” We can’t stop people from teasing you until the cows come home (what time is that again?), but we can tell you it’s allowed on this day. In the US, Ask a Stupid Question Day’s default day is today, September 28, but it’s usually observed on the last school day in September. 

But why?!? Who started this nonsense?

Teachers. 

And…. to be fair… bless them! They definitely get more than their fair share of stupid questions while they teach our children. It makes sense that they would’ve come up with this very special day, helping to keep the stupid questions to one day a year, but, surprisingly, that’s not why they did it. 

Bred from perfect intentions, the point of this holiday was to get kids on board with asking more questions. Anyone can empathize or sympathize with wanting to be seen as a genius, not a doofus. This is especially true for kids. You mispronounce one word, and suddenly, your new nickname is “Lieberry.” Kids are mean, man. 

Anxiety about asking a clarifying question on a topic that’s been discussed ad nauseam can be seen as embarrassing or dumb. Having a day where silly or stupid questions are allowed gives typically shy or timid kids a chance to ask a question they fear might make them look dumb. 

Questions are essential, not only in school but also in society, and here’s why. 

Questions stimulate intelligent conversations and help people connect. Not all questions. Some ponderings deserve to stay in the “shower thoughts” category, but most do. This importance of questions all comes down to the Scientific Method. 

The Scientific Method

You probably remember this from school, but in a simplified refresher, the order goes:

1. Ask a question
2. Do background research
3. Develop a hypothesis
4. Test your hypothesis with an experiment
5. Ask if it’s working
   1. If yes, move on to the next step
   2. If no, troubleshoot the experiment and repeat step 4
6. Analyze the data and draw conclusions
   1. If the results are aligned with the hypothesis, communicate that
   2. If the results slightly or completely disagree with the hypothesis, this conclusion becomes more information for a new question and hypothesis to be developed. 

Let’s put this into practice with a stupid question: “If an address looks like an address, is it an address?”

1. We asked the question.
2. We did the research for background by asking more questions. What are the elements of an address? Do all addresses contain all of these elements? Are certain standardizations in formatting part of what makes a viable address? Does it matter if you can deliver to the address (some addresses are USPS-friendly, and others are not)?
3. Smarty hypothesized that even if an address looks right, it might not be considered valid.
4. We experimented by checking an address we made up in our brains that fits the standardized formatting and contains what appears to be the necessary elements. 

555 Smarty Pants Dr. 
Orem, UT 84058

We ran this address through our beautiful, fancy address validation tool for US addresses.

1. Our tool returned the result that this was NOT a valid address. 
2. We could say, “Well, Smarty Pants Dr. isn’t a real street name.” We could then replace the name with a street that’s valid and rerun the test. However, our question was, “If it looks like an address, is it an address?” The answer would be no! 

We did it!

Without the “stupid” question, the drive to find an answer might never exist. The person asking the stupid question may prompt another to perform the Scientific Method to find the answer, or the asker may elect to follow the process themselves! Either way, society gets an answer. Sometimes, that answer is very different from what they expected, and that’s ok, too! It’s a fun surprise.

Let’s keep those questions coming.

“Are we there yet?” - A conclusion

We at Smarty are known for being unafraid to ask seemingly dumb questions like the one we asked above. It’s the reason we’re so good at what we do. You can read more about what makes an address verified and validated here.

When we ask dumb questions, sometimes we’ll actually come to a very “Smarty” conclusion. (See what we did there?) Go ahead. Ask those stupid questions, especially today as we celebrate National Ask a Stupid Question Day, but also on any other day. You might be surprised by the answers you come up with.