Weird Questions to Ask
For friends, a group chat, a long drive or a table of people who have run out of small talk. The questions are strange but harmless, and they are sorted into six groups: quick ones anyone can answer, food, body and brain, what-ifs, pointless debates, and questions for friends to ask about each other. The well-known ones are here, such as the horse-sized duck and the hot dog that may or may not be a sandwich, next to plenty you are less likely to have heard. Each has a note on why it works, what to ask next, or when to skip it.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Quick ones
Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses?
Why ask it
It is the best known weird question there is, and people who have heard it before still change their answer halfway through explaining it. Ask for the plan: the duck side has to deal with a beak at head height, and the horse side tends to forget that small horses still kick.
What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
Why ask it
That swallowed gum stayed inside you for years, that the people on the radio were sitting in it, that the moon was following the car. Ask who told them, or how they worked it out for themselves, and how old they were when it fell apart.
What is the most useless talent you have?
Why ask it
Wiggling one ear, reciting the bus routes of a town they left years ago, guessing the time to within five minutes. A demonstration is the obvious follow-up, so ask it where the person has room to give one, and applaud whatever you get.
What is the weirdest thing you have looked up online lately?
Why ask it
Whether penguins have knees, how long a snail can sleep, why a certain word is spelled the way it is. People may scroll back through their history before they answer, so let them choose what to read out and never ask to see the screen.
If you were an animal, which one would you be?
Why ask it
People name the animal they admire, and their friends name a different one for them straight away. Ask for both, the one you would choose and the one the group says you already are, and let the gap between an eagle and a slightly anxious spaniel do the work.
What is the strangest thing you own?
Why ask it
A tooth in a jar, a traffic cone with a history, a souvenir nobody can identify. Ask how it arrived and why it has survived every clear-out, and if you happen to be at their place, ask to see it.
What color is Tuesday?
Why ask it
Some people answer instantly and are startled that anyone has to think about it. Go through the rest of the week and see whether the group agrees on a single day.
What is the largest animal you believe you could carry up a flight of stairs?
Why ask it
Answers start modest and grow as people compete. Ask whether the animal is cooperating, since a calm sheep and an angry goose are very different jobs.
What is the strangest thing you have touched today?
Why ask it
It makes people replay the day through their hands, which nobody normally does. The answers are small and specific, like a snail, wet paint or a stranger's umbrella, and each comes with a short story.
Which of your ten fingers is doing the least to earn its place?
Why ask it
People hold up a hand and inspect it like a manager at a review. Anyone who plays an instrument or types fast will defend the finger everyone else just fired.
What sound do you think a giraffe makes?
Why ask it
Hardly anyone knows, so everyone has to guess, and the guesses come with impressions. Look it up afterwards and see who came closest.
Which harmless animal are you a little bit afraid of anyway?
Why ask it
Moths, pigeons, frogs and butterflies all get named, often with a childhood incident attached. Ask for the incident, and keep it kind if the fear turns out to be real.
Which number between one and ten do you trust the least?
Why ask it
People answer faster than they expect and then cannot explain themselves. Ask them to try anyway: the reasoning about why six seems shifty is the good part.
What have you said out loud this week that has probably never been said before?
Why ask it
Parents, pet owners and anyone who works with the public win this easily, with lines like 'please take the spoon back off the dog'. Give people a minute, because the good ones take some remembering.
What is a perfectly normal word that you dislike saying out loud?
Why ask it
The dislike is usually about how the word feels in the mouth, not what it means. Expect the rest of the group to say it repeatedly, so only ask among people who can take that.
What have you seen for sale that made you wonder who on earth buys it?
Why ask it
Market stalls, airport shops and online listings all supply answers. The best moment is when someone at the table admits to owning one and has to explain.
What is the strangest true fact you know?
Why ask it
Most people have one they have been waiting to use. Someone will doubt it and reach for a phone, so let them check: a fact that survives is worth more.
Which month has the best name, and which one sounds made up?
Why ask it
October and November get praised as solid, and February gets accused of carrying a letter half the room does not pronounce. Say any month ten times in a row and it starts to sound invented, which helps the case against it.
What did you once see from a moving car or train that you still cannot explain?
Why ask it
A man carrying a door across a field, a horse in a front yard, a sign that made no sense: the view moves on before there is an answer. Have the group supply the explanation the witness never got.
What is the worst harmless thing you could find inside your shoe?
Why ask it
Wet usually beats sharp, and anything that moves beats both. People pull a face as they answer, and you find out who shakes their shoes out first and who has never thought to.
What is the oddest thing you have ever carried onto a bus, train or plane?
Why ask it
A chair, a cake, a fish in a bag: the item matters less than how the other passengers reacted. Ask whether anyone said something.
Which letter of the alphabet could we lose without much trouble?
Why ask it
C, Q and X get nominated first, and then someone with one of them in their name objects. Ask which words would have to be respelled and whether they would look better or worse.
Do fish ever get thirsty?
Why ask it
Everyone has an opinion within two seconds and nobody has a reason. Whether fish drink can be looked up, and the answer is not the same for the sea and the river, but whether drinking counts as being thirsty is the part the table gets to argue about.
Why do you never see a baby pigeon?
Why ask it
City people realize they have seen thousands of pigeons and not one small one, and the theories start at once. There is a plain answer, to do with how long the young stay in the nest, so collect the guesses before anyone looks it up.
Food
What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?
Why ask it
Travel, a dare and a grandparent's kitchen supply most of the answers. Ask whether they would eat it again, and remember that one person's weird is another person's Sunday dinner, so if someone at the table grew up with the dish, let them describe it properly.
What food combination do you love that other people find disgusting?
Why ask it
Fries dipped in a milkshake, peanut butter with pickles, cheese with jam: the owner always insists it works. The fair response is to try it before judging, if the kitchen has both halves, and then to offer one of your own.
Which two foods that everyone else enjoys together do you insist on keeping apart?
Why ask it
It flips the usual question about odd combinations. You find out who cannot have gravy touch the peas or fruit anywhere near chocolate, and the table will try to argue them out of it.
Which crayon color do you think would taste the best?
Why ask it
Nobody is being asked to try. People answer from the color or the name on the wrapper, and someone always points out that every one of them would taste of wax.
Which fruit has the most annoying design?
Why ask it
It invites a complaint, and complaints come easily. Pomegranates, mangoes and anything with a pit in the middle get put on trial, and someone will hold up the banana as the one that got it right.
Which food makes you wonder how hungry the first person to try it must have been?
Why ask it
Artichokes, oysters and blue cheese are common answers. Push on to the invented story of that first meal, which no one can fact-check and everyone can add to.
Which food is improved by being slightly burnt?
Why ask it
Toast, cheese at the edge of the pan and the bottom of the rice all have loyal defenders. It tells you who wants the corner piece, which is handy to know when you share a kitchen.
Does water have a taste, and if so, what is it?
Why ask it
People who say no can be asked why they prefer one tap or bottle over another, or why the water at someone else's house tastes wrong. If there are two kinds within reach, run a blind test.
What food do you eat in a particular order or pattern, and what happens if someone interrupts it?
Why ask it
Edges first, layers peeled apart, the best bite saved for last: most people have a method for something. Ask them to describe it step by step, as if writing instructions.
What flavor of toothpaste should exist but doesn't?
Why ask it
It sounds easy until people notice that almost every flavor they like would be awful at seven in the morning. The serious attempts are funnier than the joke answers.
Which food looks nothing like the way it tastes?
Why ask it
Avocado, licorice and anything dyed blue come up, usually with a story about a first bite that went wrong. Then ask for the reverse, a food that looks exactly the way it tastes, which is harder to find.
Which food is the loudest to eat, and where should it be banned?
Why ask it
Potato chips, apples and celery lead, and the movie theater, the quiet car on a train and the desk next to yours are the places usually named. Somebody at the table tends to be the offender, so let them defend themselves.
Which condiment could you drink a small glass of, if you had to?
Why ask it
Keep it as a thought experiment and do not let it become a dare, since a real glass of soy sauce or hot sauce is a bad idea. People still answer within seconds, and the follow-up is which condiment they could not manage a spoonful of.
Do you eat soup or drink it, and does serving it in a mug change your answer?
Why ask it
The mug is what makes people stumble. Ask where a smoothie, a stew and a bowl of cereal fall, and the categories come apart quickly.
What is the latest time of day a meal can still be called breakfast?
Why ask it
Some people define breakfast by the clock, some by the food and some by whether they have slept. Find out which camp each person is in before anyone argues about the hour.
What is the oddest thing you have watched someone dip into something else?
Why ask it
Asking about someone else's habit is safer than asking about their own, and they usually confess theirs anyway. Ask whether they tried it afterwards.
What food that is supposed to be eaten hot do you honestly prefer cold?
Why ask it
Cold pizza is the answer everyone expects, so ask for a second. That is where the leftover noodles and the cold roast potatoes come out.
If you had to give up everything crunchy or everything chewy, which goes?
Why ask it
Crunchy takes chips, toast and apples; chewy takes noodles, caramel and the middle of a good loaf. Let people list what they would lose on each side before they commit, because the fight over where bread and pizza belong is the real game.
How would you describe the taste of salt without using the word salty?
Why ask it
It is harder than it sounds, and the attempts get more desperate as they go. Try sour or sweet next if the group enjoys the struggle.
Body and brain
What is the weirdest habit you have?
Why ask it
Counting the stairs, sniffing a new book, saying goodbye to the house on the way out. Let each person decide how much to admit, and expect at least one habit that somebody else in the room turns out to have been hiding too.
What is the weirdest dream you can still remember?
Why ask it
Nearly everyone has one that stuck: the teeth, the school corridor, the house with an extra room. Ask for the one-minute version and the single detail that made the least sense, and move on if the dream was a frightening one.
Where is the strangest place you have ever fallen asleep?
Why ask it
On a bus that had passed the last stop, under a desk, standing up at a concert, halfway through a haircut. Ask how they woke up and who was looking at them when they did.
Do you talk to yourself out loud when you are alone, and what do you say?
Why ask it
Plenty of people do and are relieved to be asked. The fun is in the kind: narrating the cooking, rehearsing an argument, encouraging the printer. Ask whether they ever answer back, and in whose voice.
What strange smell do you love: gasoline, a struck match, a new shower curtain?
Why ask it
People tend to have one they would never put in a candle. Go around the group and notice how often two people share a smell that a third finds unbearable. Wet pavement, a hardware store and the inside of an old book all have their supporters.
What is your most irrational fear?
Why ask it
The ones worth hearing are the ones the person knows are silly: the gap under the bed, a drain, a balloon that is about to pop. Ask what they picture happening. If it turns out to be a real phobia, do not test it, and go on to the next question.
How do you picture the year in your head: a line, a circle, a grid, or nothing at all?
Why ask it
People are amazed that someone else's year has a different shape, or no shape. Ask where January sits and which way the months travel, and get them to draw it in the air.
Close your eyes and picture an apple. How much is really there: color, shine, a stem, or only the idea of an apple?
Why ask it
Some people see a detailed apple and some see nothing and simply know they are thinking of one. Each group tends to assume the other is exaggerating, so let everyone describe theirs before anyone comments.
Do you think in words, in pictures, or in something harder to describe?
Why ask it
Ask whether there is a voice, whose voice it is, and whether it ever stops. There is no right answer, and close friends who have never compared notes are often surprised by each other.
Which finger do you start with when you count to five on one hand?
Why ask it
Thumb, index finger or little finger: it differs from place to place and family to family, and most people have never noticed there is more than one way. Have everyone count at once and compare hands.
Which sock goes on first, and did you know the answer before I asked?
Why ask it
Most people have to mime getting dressed to find out. It is a fixed habit they never chose, and it leads on to shoes, sleeves and which leg goes into pants first.
Can you tell left from right instantly, or do you use a trick?
Why ask it
Plenty of adults still make an L with one hand or think of the hand they write with. Those who admit to a trick are usually relieved to hear they are not the only one.
What one thing do you do with the opposite hand from the one you write with?
Why ask it
A right-hander might hold the phone, deal cards or open jars with the left. People tend to discover the answer mid-sentence, usually while miming it.
What does your body do that you assumed was normal until someone told you otherwise?
Why ask it
Sneezing in bright light, a clicking jaw, never getting brain freeze: each one sends the room off to test themselves. Stay with quirks and steer away from anything that sounds like a medical worry.
What is one sentence somebody said to you in a dream that made no sense at all?
Why ask it
Other people's dreams are dull when they are long, so asking for a single line keeps it short. Keep to the absurd ones and let anything upsetting go by.
Have you ever woken up one minute before your alarm, and what do you think is going on there?
Why ask it
It has happened to enough people that the table will nod, and each of them has a private theory about body clocks or a click the alarm makes. The theories are the answer you are after, so keep the phones away for this one.
What useless thing from years ago is still stored in your head: a locker combination, a bus schedule, a classmate's birthday?
Why ask it
It tends to come out whole and at speed, to the surprise of its owner. Leave out anything that might still be working as a password, and ask what they would delete to make room, if memory worked like that.
What advertising jingle from your childhood can you still sing word for word?
Why ask it
People will sing, so save it for a group that does not mind noise. Where people grew up in different places or decades, each jingle needs explaining, and the explaining is the best part.
What is your earliest memory, and how sure are you that it is not a photo you were shown?
Why ask it
The second half is the strange part: an early memory can turn out to be a family story or a picture on a wall. Ask what detail convinces them it is their own.
How do you really sit when nobody is watching?
Why ask it
Feet up, one leg tucked under, sideways across the armchair: people have a private arrangement they drop when company arrives. Ask them to show you if the furniture allows.
What do you do with your hands when you don't know what to do with your hands?
Why ask it
Pockets, a drink, a pen to click. It is most fun at a party, where half the room is doing their answer at that very moment.
What ordinary noise sends a shiver straight up your back?
Why ask it
A squeaking marker, a fork on a plate, foam packaging rubbing together. Expect someone to make the noise at once, so ask it among people who will stop when told.
What is the strangest thing you find relaxing?
Why ask it
Untangling cables, watching a carpet being cleaned, sorting coins. Nobody chooses these, so the answers are honest, and one person's pick often turns out to be shared by someone else at the table.
Where is your tongue resting in your mouth right now?
Why ask it
Nobody knows until they are asked, and then nobody can stop noticing. Apologize first, and if the group forgives you, ask whether they are now blinking on purpose as well.
What if
If you could have any superpower, as long as it was nearly useless, what would you choose?
Why ask it
Always knowing how many stairs a building has, changing the color of one sock at will, never losing a pen. The best answers are the ones somebody else at the table then finds a use for, so give the group a minute to try.
If you came back as a ghost, who or where would you haunt?
Why ask it
People mostly pass over revenge and choose a place: a library after closing, a favorite bar, the house they grew up in. Ask what kind of haunting it would be, since moving one sock a week and rattling chains are very different careers. Leave it out around anyone who has lost someone recently.
If animals could talk, which one would be the rudest?
Why ask it
Cats, geese and seagulls lead the voting, and each nomination comes with an impression of what the animal would say. Ask which would be the most polite as well, and which would never stop talking.
If a zombie apocalypse started this afternoon, where would you go and how long would you last?
Why ask it
People turn out to have a plan already, and it usually falls apart at the first question about food, stairs or the family dog. Have the group rate each plan honestly, and take note of who intends to turn up at whose house.
If you could borrow a shell, a pouch, a trunk or a set of whiskers for a week, which would you get the most use from?
Why ask it
The pouch wins on practicality and the trunk on fun. Ask what they would keep in the pouch, how they would sleep in the shell, or what the whiskers are for, which few people can say.
If you found a button on the back of your neck, would you press it?
Why ask it
The room divides at once into people who press and people who never would, and each side finds the other baffling. Ask what they think it does, then ask the non-pressers how long they could hold out.
If humans had to hibernate for one month a year, which month would you sleep through?
Why ask it
People mostly pick the month they like least, then remember what falls in it. Ask what they would want waiting for them when they woke up.
If your knees bent the other way, what would get easier and what would be ruined?
Why ask it
Chairs, stairs and bicycles all have to be redesigned, and people start acting it out. Good for a group that likes to work out the engineering.
If you woke up with a third arm, where would you want it attached?
Why ask it
Front, back or the top of the head: each has a case. The practical answers, such as holding the phone while carrying bags, tell you what the person finds most annoying day to day.
If you had to wear oven mitts on both hands for a whole week, what would defeat you first?
Why ask it
Phones, buttons and shoelaces are the first to go. People start miming, and the resourceful ones work out which jobs could be handed to their elbows and teeth.
If gravity switched off for ten seconds every day at noon, how would you prepare?
Why ask it
Ten seconds is short enough to plan around, so people get specific: lids on drinks, a hand on the door frame, nobody in the bathtub at noon. Ask who would forget every single day.
If the floor of this room turned to lava right now, what is your route to the door?
Why ask it
Everyone starts measuring the furniture with their eyes. It works best in a room with enough chairs and tables to argue over, and you may have to stop someone from demonstrating.
If the moon vanished tonight, how many days would it take you to notice?
Why ask it
The honest answers are long, and people admit they rarely look up. Leave the science of what would follow to anyone who wants it, because the question is about noticing.
If every animal became the size of a medium dog, which would make the best pet and which the worst?
Why ask it
A dog-sized elephant wins a lot of votes until someone thinks about a dog-sized wasp. Asking for the worst as well as the best keeps it from ending in one answer.
If humans had tails, what would count as bad manners with one?
Why ask it
A tail that wags gives away what you really think of a present, so the first rule people invent is usually about hiding it. Then come the practical ones: bus seats, revolving doors, and whose job it is to mind where they step.
If you could add one new sense, what would you want to be able to detect?
Why ask it
Magnetic north, lies, rain an hour ahead, whether the milk is off. The choice says something about what the person finds hardest to judge with the senses they have.
If rain had to fall as something other than water, what would be the least bad substitute?
Why ask it
People begin with something tasty and then picture the gutters, the car and the dog. Whoever thinks about the cleaning up first usually wins the argument.
If you could shut your ears the way you shut your eyes, when would you use it most?
Why ask it
Everyone has a noise in mind before the question is finished: a drill next door, chewing, one particular ringtone. Then ask whether closing your ears while someone is talking would be ruder than looking at your phone.
If your hair grew a foot every night, would you cut it daily, sell it, or let it go?
Why ask it
Somebody will work out the yearly length, somebody will start a business, and somebody will ask whether eyebrows count. Let all three run.
If your reflection started moving half a second late, who is the first person you would tell?
Why ask it
It is an eerie idea but a safe one, since the real question is who you would trust to believe you. Skip it with anyone who is easily spooked late at night.
If you could only walk in straight lines and turn at right angles for a day, where would you get stuck?
Why ask it
People retrace their morning and find the trouble: a roundabout, a curved garden path, a crowded sidewalk where nobody else is playing along. Rule early that diagonals are not allowed, or someone will claim them.
If stairs had never been invented, what would we be using to get upstairs?
Why ask it
Ramps, ladders, poles and ropes all get proposed, and each one falls apart when someone asks about carrying a cup of coffee or a sleeping child. Whoever says nobody would have built a second floor at all is probably right.
If you could see only one color, with everything else in black and white, which color would you keep?
Why ask it
Red gets chosen for traffic lights and ripe fruit, green for trees, blue for the sky and the sea. The follow-up is what they would miss most, and it is often food, since a gray dinner is hard to feel hungry for.
If you were locked in a store overnight with permission to use everything, which kind of store would you hope it was?
Why ask it
Hardware store, bookstore, bakery, garden center. The bakery crowd plan to eat and the hardware crowd plan to build something, so ask what would be finished, read or gone by morning.
Debates
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
Why ask it
Everybody has heard it and nobody has settled it. Get a yes or a no from each person first, then test the rule they give you against a sub roll, a taco and a folded slice of pizza, and see how long the rule holds.
Is cereal a soup?
Why ask it
Whoever says no has to say what soup is, and 'hot' fails as soon as someone mentions gazpacho. 'Savory' and 'cooked' are the next to go. Ask whether the milk is a broth or a sauce, and let it get worse from there.
Is water wet?
Why ask it
One side says wet is what water does to other things, and the other says nothing could be wetter than water. It comes down to what the word means, so neither side can win, which is why it lasts. Ask the first camp whether fire is burnt.
Do you believe in aliens, ghosts, both or neither?
Why ask it
The four-way choice is better than asking about one alone, because people have to explain why one seems plausible to them and the other does not. Ask for the best story they have heard first hand, and let believers and doubters keep their positions.
What harmless conspiracy theory do you half believe?
Why ask it
Keep it at the silly end: that a snack recipe was quietly changed, that a certain town does not exist, that the pigeons are up to something. Steer away from anything about real people, health or politics, which stops being a game very quickly.
Does a straw have one hole, two holes, or none?
Why ask it
Have everyone answer before anyone explains. Then ask whether a sock, a tunnel or a doughnut changes their mind, and watch people switch sides.
How many trees does it take before it counts as a forest?
Why ask it
Someone says a hundred, someone asks about ninety-nine, and the argument runs itself. If it stalls, ask how many grains make a heap or how many houses make a town.
What is the opposite of a cat?
Why ask it
Dog is the reflex answer, and then someone asks why and nobody can say. Try the opposite of a table or the opposite of Thursday once the group has warmed up.
Which is more of a chair: a stool or a beanbag?
Why ask it
One has legs and no back, the other has neither and still holds you. To settle it the group has to say what a chair is, and they will find that harder than expected.
Was the day you were born your first birthday?
Why ask it
Half the room says obviously and the other half says that one does not count, and both are sure. It is the same split as whether the floor at street level is the ground floor or the first, which depends on where you grew up.
What color is a mirror?
Why ask it
Silver is what most people say, and then they notice a mirror shows whatever color is in front of it. There is an answer worth looking up once everyone has committed to a guess.
Was the color orange named after the fruit, or the fruit after the color?
Why ask it
This one has an answer, so make everyone pick a side before any phone comes out. It leads on to which other colors are named after things: violet, peach, turquoise.
How long can a nap last before it has to be called sleep?
Why ask it
Twenty-minute nappers are appalled by the three-hour crowd. Ask whether the answer depends on the time of day, on getting under the covers, or on changing clothes first.
If today is Wednesday, which day is 'next Friday'?
Why ask it
Some people mean the Friday two days off and some mean the one after, and both think it is obvious. Friends who have missed plans over this will have evidence.
How many is a few, how many is several, and which is more: a couple or a handful?
Why ask it
Ask each person for exact numbers and compare. The gaps explain a good many disagreements about how many cookies someone said they took.
Is it possible to be good at rock paper scissors, or is it all luck?
Why ask it
Whoever says it is all luck can be challenged to a best of five on the spot. A few rounds settle nothing, but the trash talk is worth it.
If you are still awake at 3 a.m., is it tonight or tomorrow?
Why ask it
Night owls say tonight and the clock says tomorrow. Ask what they would text a friend at that hour: 'see you tomorrow' or 'see you later today'.
If you replace every part of a bicycle over ten years, is it still the same bicycle?
Why ask it
It is the old puzzle about the rebuilt ship, with an object people actually own. Ask at which replaced part they would stop calling it the same bike, and then ask about a band whose members have all changed.
What is the smallest number of people that counts as a party?
Why ask it
Two people is a visit, and the group has to decide what tips it over: a third person, music, or snacks in a bowl. Useful the next time someone says they are having a few people over.
Is a hallway a room?
Why ask it
People answer right away and then struggle to say what makes a room a room: a door, a use, furniture. Ask about a walk-in closet, a porch and a landing to test the rule.
Why is there no everyday word for the day after tomorrow, and what should it be?
Why ask it
It is a day people mention all the time with a clumsy three-word phrase. Collect suggestions and vote, and ask anyone who speaks another language whether theirs has a word for it.
When someone says 'up the road' and the road is flat, which way do they mean?
Why ask it
Some go by north, some by rising house numbers, some by whichever way leads into town, and most have never noticed they had a rule. Get the whole table to point at the same moment and count how many directions you end up with.
When does cut hair stop being part of you: when it is cut, when it lands on the floor, or when it is swept up?
Why ask it
A silly question with a real one under it, about where a person ends. If the group likes it, ask about a baby tooth kept in a drawer.
For friends
If I were arrested and nobody told you why, what would you assume I had done?
Why ask it
The guesses add up to a portrait of you: trespassing to pet a horse, arguing with a parking officer, a library book kept far too long. Keep the crimes petty and comic, and skip it with anyone for whom an arrest is not a joke.
What is a weird thing I do that you have never mentioned?
Why ask it
You have to be ready to hear the answer, so ask people who like you. It tends to be something small and fond, such as how you hold a pen or announce that you are leaving.
What do you think is in my fridge right now?
Why ask it
Guesses show what your friends think of your habits, and you can check them later with a photo. Give three guesses each and a point for anything named exactly.
If this group ran a small circus, who would do which act?
Why ask it
Friends cast each other with alarming speed: ringmaster, juggler, the one who sells tickets and counts the money. Ask for the reasoning, because it says how they see a person far more than the act does.
What smell would make you think of me?
Why ask it
It may be a soap, a kitchen, a car or a particular coat, and it can be unexpectedly touching. Do not ask it as a joke if someone is self-conscious about this sort of thing.
What word or phrase do I say so often that you could use it to impersonate me?
Why ask it
Most people have no idea what their verbal habit is until a friend performs it. Take the impression well, since everyone else in the group gets their turn next.
If everyone here were a kind of bread, who is which loaf?
Why ask it
Sourdough, a plain white roll, a seeded loaf nobody asked for: people take their assignment personally. Make each judge give a reason, and let the person appeal.
Whose laugh in this group would you know from the next room with the door shut?
Why ask it
It is a compliment disguised as an odd question, since a laugh you would know through a door is a laugh you have heard a lot. Expect impressions, and keep them warm.
If you had to swap voices with someone in this room for a month, whose would you take?
Why ask it
People choose for depth, calm or how well a voice carries across a room. The person chosen hears something nice about themselves that they would not have heard any other way.
If an impostor replaced you tomorrow, what small mistake would give them away to the rest of us?
Why ask it
It asks what each person thinks is most recognizable about themselves, and the others will correct them. The detail friends name is often not the one you would pick.
What is the strangest thing we have done together that seemed normal at the time?
Why ask it
This only works with people who share some history. One memory sets off another, so let it run, and expect disputes over whose idea it was.
What is the weirdest detail you remember about the day we met?
Why ask it
Two people seldom remember that day the same way, and comparing versions is the point. A shirt color or a forgotten first sentence will be contested.
Whose handwriting here could you copy well enough to fool the rest of us, and whose can nobody read?
Why ask it
It can be tested then and there with a pen and a napkin. Among people who mostly type to each other, it may come out that nobody knows anyone's handwriting at all.
If we each had to trade one habit with someone here, whose would you take and which of yours would you hand over?
Why ask it
Asking for a habit is a compliment to its owner. The one they offer to hand over is a small confession, so let them choose how big it is.
What is something I own that you have always found strange?
Why ask it
A lamp, a mug with a history, a coat you wear too often: friends have been keeping notes. Have the story of the object ready, because they will ask for it.
Which of us is most likely to end up on the local news for something harmless and odd, and what is the headline?
Why ask it
The headline is the part to insist on. Keep it to the harmless and odd, such as rescuing a duck or winning a pie contest by accident.
What kind of business would this group be worst at running together?
Why ask it
A restaurant, a moving company, a daycare. The reasons point at everyone's weak spots in a friendly way, and deciding who would be in charge of what can take the rest of the evening.
Which emoji do I overuse, and what do you think I mean by it?
Why ask it
It works in person and in the group chat itself. Someone may learn that a symbol they meant as friendly has been read as sarcasm for years.
What three objects would tell a detective that your home is yours?
Why ask it
It makes people look at their home as a stranger would. In a group of friends, let the others guess the three objects before the owner answers.
What odd opinion do you think every one of us here would agree with?
Why ask it
It turns the room into a search party, with people calling out odd views until one gets a full show of hands. It takes a while, and the discarded candidates are as good as the winner.
What do you think I was like as a nine-year-old?
Why ask it
Friends who met as adults have to build the child from the person in front of them. Correct the record afterwards, with a school photo if one exists.
How to ask a weird question without it falling flat
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Choosing the right kind of weird
Match the section to the company
Quick ones, Food and Debates work on anyone, including people who met an hour ago. Body and brain needs a little patience, because people have to check their own heads before they answer. For friends only works when there is shared history, so leave it out with colleagues and new acquaintances.
Weird is not the same as personal
A good weird question is strange in its subject and low in its stakes. Nobody should have to confess anything to answer what color Tuesday is. If a question would make someone reveal a secret or a sore spot, it has stopped being weird and become nosy.
Open with one that has an instant answer
Start with something a person can answer in a word or two, like the duck or the horses, the least trusted number or the first sock. A question that needs a minute of thought is fine once people are warmed up, but as an opener it produces silence and a worried look.
Go first if the room hesitates
A strange question can sound like a trap. Answer it yourself, quickly and without polish, and people see that the bar is low and the tone is playful. Then hand it to the person most likely to enjoy it, not the quietest one.
Getting an argument out of it
Make everyone commit at once
For the Debates, have the whole group answer together, with a show of hands or on a count of three. Once people have taken a side in public they will defend it, and nobody gets to wait and copy the majority.
Ask why, then ask someone else
The first answer is rarely the good part. 'Why six?' or 'why is a dog the opposite?' is where people start to reason out loud and contradict themselves. When one person runs dry, put the same question to their neighbor instead of moving on.
Change one detail
Most of these have a second round built in. If the straw has one hole, ask about a sock. If the opposite of a cat is a dog, ask for the opposite of a table. A small change to the question shows who has a rule and who was guessing.
Make up your own
Most of the questions here come from four moves you can reuse. Ask where the edge of an ordinary thing is, as with the trees and the forest. Ask for its opposite. Ask which one is the worst or the least useful, as with the fingers. Or change one physical detail and ask what breaks, as with the knees. Start from whatever is on the table or outside the window.
Let a good one run
If one question takes twenty minutes, it worked. There is no need to get through the list, and reading out the next question while people are still arguing about the last one ends the fun.
By text or in a group chat
Send one question at a time and wait. Quick ones and Debates suit a chat because they can be answered in a line and argued over for a day. Body and brain and For friends are better in person, where people can act out their answers and see each other's faces.
When to leave one alone
Someone has no answer
Let people pass without comment. With the Body and brain questions, 'nothing' and 'I don't know' are real answers and often the interesting ones: a person who sees no apple at all has more to tell the table than one who sees a red one.
The joke lands on one person
The For friends questions run on affection. If the answers start piling onto one person, or someone goes quiet after hearing what their habit is, turn the question on yourself and take the next round of teasing.
Looking things up
A few of these have real answers, such as the giraffe, the fish, the baby pigeons, the mirror and the color orange. Get every guess in first, then let one person check. A table of people all reading their phones is the end of the conversation.
Work, family dinners and people you barely know
Stay with Quick ones, Food and Debates. Skip anything about a person's body or habits unless you know them well, and drop a question the moment it reaches a real fear or a health worry. The aim is a room laughing at the question, not at someone in it.