I'm just curious...
To know whatever.
I’m just curious…. why does every question posed by the talking heads on cable, NPR and network news start with “I’m just curious,” or simply “I’m curious…”
It’s become the new verbal tick, like beginning every important statement with “So…” or injecting “like” several times into a single sentence.
I suppose it suggests neutrality, or at least an open mind to assess whatever answer or word salad is soon to follow. Whatever.
This precede could also be applied in domestic situations. For example: I’m just curious to know why you haven’t taken out the trash, or I’m just curious to know why you haven’t emptied the dishwasher.
Certainly there is no offense or criticism intended. The inquisitor was, well, just curious.
I’m just curious to know whether you, reader, also introduce,, questions with this utterly vacuous phrase and — again, I’m just curious — why you would do that?
Here’s one for the pundits who like to project gravitas to ask the POTUS, #47, who promised to keep us out of foreign wars and will otherwise go unnamed: I’m just curious, sir, why did you in the dark of night start a war with Iran?
I’m just curious if it had anything to do with distracting and disrupting the news cycle from any presidential culpability buried in the Epstein files. But let me be clear. I’m not judging you, sir, or suggesting an answer. I’m just curious.
It’s a debating prop I think, although no debate is ongoing. I’ve heard lawyers and legislators use props such as “I’m certain my dear friend would agree with me that X is true” when of course it’s laughably false, and the object of the comment is no friend. So “I’m curious” may be a politer way of saying “listen to this bit of stupidity.”
Interesting observation, Eugene. I’d not noticed the use of “I’m just curious.” I’d bet it’s a means of suggesting to the audience that the moderator is curious (a positive trait) and that you, the listener, should be curious, too. And now, like the arrow embedded in the FedEx logo, that once you see it, you can never unsee it, I will not again hear “I’m just curious” without thinking, “No, you’re not just curious. You’re playing the part.”