"kitbag question" meaning in All languages combined

See kitbag question on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈkɪtbæɡ ˈkwɛstʃən/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-kitbag question.wav Forms: kitbag questions [plural]
Etymology: Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg). An apocryphal tale of the term's origin involves a squad of soldiers in the Israeli Army: A commander tells the soldiers, "We're going on a 5 mile run". And some dip asks, "Do we have to bring our kitbags?" At which point, the answer is yes. It wouldn't have been if the soldier hadn't asked the question. The story is retold with some variation, but always involving a commander telling a subordinate soldier to run with his kitbag. Etymology templates: {{calque|en|he|שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג|tr=she'elat kitbeg}} Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg) Head templates: {{en-noun}} kitbag question (plural kitbag questions)
  1. (humorous) A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked. Tags: humorous
    Sense id: en-kitbag_question-en-noun-ndhb5XKT Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "he",
        "3": "שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג",
        "tr": "she'elat kitbeg"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg). An apocryphal tale of the term's origin involves a squad of soldiers in the Israeli Army:\nA commander tells the soldiers, \"We're going on a 5 mile run\". And some dip asks, \"Do we have to bring our kitbags?\" At which point, the answer is yes. It wouldn't have been if the soldier hadn't asked the question.\nThe story is retold with some variation, but always involving a commander telling a subordinate soldier to run with his kitbag.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "kitbag questions",
      "tags": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "kitbag question (plural kitbag questions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996 January 21, Vernon Everett, “copywrited kenders”, in rec.games.frp.dnd (Usenet):",
          "text": "I think the original question was a stupid one in the first place. What we in army used to call a \"kit-bag question\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 January 13, Lisa, “Homosexuality unnatural? Was Re: Taliban-like extremists”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet):",
          "text": "Find me something assur, and if I want an exception made, I'll ask a shayla. Find me something ambiguous, and if I want clarification made, I'll ask a shayla. I'm not about to go around asking kitbag questions.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Jeffrey Goldberg, Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, pages 94–95:",
          "text": "One of my friends, dizzy with fatigue, asked him if we needed to bring the squad's jerry-cans with us on the long march to the exercise. \"Yes,\" Evgeny said, smiling wickedly. \"Bring the jerry-cans.\"\n At that moment we could have committed murder. My friend had asked a classic Israeli army \"kitbag\" question—the entirely unnecessary question that only serves to make things worse. Only a schlemiel asks a kitbag question.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 June 1, Philologos, “The Kitbag Question”, in The Forward, archived from the original on 2022-07-01:",
          "text": "In Yiddish, a kitbag question is known as a klots-kashe, or \"klutz question,\" our English \"klutz\" coming from Yiddish klots, a block of wood.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked."
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        "(humorous) A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈkɪtbæɡ ˈkwɛstʃən/"
    },
    {
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  ],
  "word": "kitbag question"
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        "2": "he",
        "3": "שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג",
        "tr": "she'elat kitbeg"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Hebrew שְׁאֵלַת קִיטְבֶּג (she'elat kitbeg). An apocryphal tale of the term's origin involves a squad of soldiers in the Israeli Army:\nA commander tells the soldiers, \"We're going on a 5 mile run\". And some dip asks, \"Do we have to bring our kitbags?\" At which point, the answer is yes. It wouldn't have been if the soldier hadn't asked the question.\nThe story is retold with some variation, but always involving a commander telling a subordinate soldier to run with his kitbag.",
  "forms": [
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  "pos": "noun",
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
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        "English terms derived from Hebrew",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996 January 21, Vernon Everett, “copywrited kenders”, in rec.games.frp.dnd (Usenet):",
          "text": "I think the original question was a stupid one in the first place. What we in army used to call a \"kit-bag question\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 January 13, Lisa, “Homosexuality unnatural? Was Re: Taliban-like extremists”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet):",
          "text": "Find me something assur, and if I want an exception made, I'll ask a shayla. Find me something ambiguous, and if I want clarification made, I'll ask a shayla. I'm not about to go around asking kitbag questions.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Jeffrey Goldberg, Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, pages 94–95:",
          "text": "One of my friends, dizzy with fatigue, asked him if we needed to bring the squad's jerry-cans with us on the long march to the exercise. \"Yes,\" Evgeny said, smiling wickedly. \"Bring the jerry-cans.\"\n At that moment we could have committed murder. My friend had asked a classic Israeli army \"kitbag\" question—the entirely unnecessary question that only serves to make things worse. Only a schlemiel asks a kitbag question.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 June 1, Philologos, “The Kitbag Question”, in The Forward, archived from the original on 2022-07-01:",
          "text": "In Yiddish, a kitbag question is known as a klots-kashe, or \"klutz question,\" our English \"klutz\" coming from Yiddish klots, a block of wood.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked."
      ],
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          "question",
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        ]
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        "(humorous) A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɪtbæɡ ˈkwɛstʃən/"
    },
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    }
  ],
  "word": "kitbag question"
}

Download raw JSONL data for kitbag question meaning in All languages combined (3.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (bb46d54 and 0c3c9f6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.