Meaning of kitbag question | Babel Free

Definitions

A question which causes a disadvantage to the asker simply by virtue of being asked.

humorous

Examples

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level