This is a question where you listen to the form of the answer, not the answer itself.



"Is there a hyphen in 'anal-retentive'?" If they try to answer, you know they are. After all, who really cares from hyphens? OTOH...
''[And see AnalRetentive if you '''just have to know.''' ;-> ]''

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Thanks to the UnknownAuthor, that was good for a laugh at the end of a long day :-)  

A related technique is ListeningForTheQuestions, since the questions people ask are indicative of their concerns and priorities.
--PeteMcBreen

...As in the question I got about use cases the other day, "And is there any experience to show that this approach does not have, uh, catastrophic after-effects?"  --AlistairCockburn

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Is this distinct from the ObtuseQuestion?

''oblique'' as in slanted. ''obtuse'' as in blunt or not sharp. methinks distinct!
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''Can someone provide an example, I'm having trouble coming up with one.  "Is there a hyphen in 'anal retentive'?" isn't an example, at least as given, since you ''are'' looking for the answer itself--"yes" or "no".''

MeAnswer: "yes" "no" or "idunno". The first two are the same answer.

"idunno" can also be the same answer (if the questionee then proceeds to research the answer!).  I like "who cares".

Another example that is sometimes done in interviews for C programming jobs:

	what does "x = a+++b" do?

The answer you want has nothing to do with the values of variables or how the compiler parses code -- the answer you want is basically "what kind of a crazy person writes expressions like that?"

Another from interviewing C++ programmers:

	which CASE (ComputerAidedSoftwareEngineering) tool do you prefer?

After all, we're looking for programmers, not UML jockeys :-)