kitbag question

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtbæɡ ˈkwɛstʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

kitbag question (plural kitbag questions)

1. (humorous) A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked.
   • 1996 January 21, Vernon Everett, “copywrited kenders”, in rec.games.frp.dnd‎^[2] (Usenet):

     I think the original question was a stupid one in the first place. What we in army used to call a "kit-bag question"

   • 2002 January 13, Lisa, “Homosexuality unnatural? Was Re: Taliban-like extremists”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated‎^[3] (Usenet):

     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.

   • 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:

     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."
     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.

   • 2007 June 1, Philologos, “The Kitbag Question”, in The Forward‎^[4], archived from the original on 2022-07-01:

     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.

Further reading

• kitbag question on Wikipedia.Wikipedia