Question instead of answer.Is it polite?

Sometimes people respond with a question because the original question was rude or none of the questioner's business. If someone asked me why I criticized my husband, I might respond with "Why do you want to know?" Or if the questioner was someone who barely knew me and my husband, I might ask them "What makes you think it's any of your business?" No one has to answer your questions if they don't want to, and different people take different ways of responding.

Becoz they don't want to discuss such thing that is why they give you question back instead of an answer. I know this becoz i do it when i don't want to give answer to question being asked on me. That way,the person who asked will feel irate and hopefully would leave me in peace (it's not being rude,sometimes there are questions that are not appropriate with my moods) which i guess same thing happen with your friend when she answer your question with question too. Happy weekend

Well here's a clue, they don't want to answer and feel it's none of your business but don't want to be rude.

Why do you want to know? LOL Hi Silver! You've answered your own question this time. Most of the time when some one answers a question with a question, it's because they don't want (or can't) answer. Sometimes, as in your example above, it is a matter of how the question is worded. When the person being asked gets defensive because of the wording, they are less apt to answer. If you had instead asked, "Wow, does your husband need constant reminders to keep in line?"...you probably would have gotten an answer.

If you ask people "hard" question(ha ha ha) and these people don't have an answer for your question,they try to give a "false"response!In this way you can't ask anything more,but you don't get an answer!I think isn't polite to answer with another question,but...

Your question is one with the answer included. They respond with another question because they don't want to answer your question. Maybe it is a little annoying, but those people are not to blame for being un-polite. They just don't want to share the information they have or their feelings. If you really want to find out something you want from them, maybe you should reformulate your question. Yet this is no guarantee that you'll get an answer this time. Maybe you reached a very delicate subject and the responder is not prepared for discussing it yet.

Hi Silvercoin, I think it is a roundabout way of letting you know that they don't feel it is necessary to answer your question. If someone asks me a question that I feel is none of their business I am apt to answer back like that. An outsider questioning my relationship or my beliefs when I did not ask for advise or to be analyzed would be a situation when I might possibly answer like that. If someone answers a question you ask in that manner then that is a big clue that you are stepping over your boundaries and they just don't want to or don't feel the need to answer your question. If it were me, I'd take the hint and back off.

Which reminds me of an old joke, "why do you Jews always answer a question with a question?" "Why shouldn't we?" I'm sure the intention is to deflect, so that you can avoid answering...

Hi, silvercoin. It is because, they don't want to answer your question. They know exactly where you are getting at and they don't want to look stupid. They are so ashamed to answer your question. They ask a question back because they are avoiding the answer that you want to hear. They know exactly what they are doing too.

To avoid giving a direct answer and save their faces in case their answer is wrong???????????

It is frustrating if someone does that, and it is not polite either. They don't want to answer you and at the same time they get offended, i guess.

I think it is a common deflecting techique when something that the person was rather not talk about the discussion at hand. I think with a lot of people, you might as well not ask questions of. Otherwise, they will just deflect the question back at you. Then the focus will be on you. Most likely, they have done something that is worthy of being hidden and they do not want to discuss it any longer. They are hiding what they have done. There is really no way around it. People do not want to answer the question. Which is fine, I guess, but still, if you don't want to answer it, at least be upfront with it. Tell me that you don't feel comfortable answering this question. That is fine, but when you deflect the question back at me, there is just something about that which comes across as a bit deceitful.

Hi friend.Maybe you should change the way of asking.When you ask "why do you criticize your husband so much?",she may think in heart"it is none of your business".She doesn't want to give an explanation to you.So she just give you a quetion back to stop the conversation.If you ask like this way"well,friend,for what your husband hurt you so much?",she may respond some reasons. Good Luck for you!

I think they don't want to answer your question so they just back the question you ask to them. It's not a good manner, I think it's better to answer a question directly and not question and the answer is also a question.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW! (Just kidding :) ) As everyone has responded, it is because they want to avoid answering the question. I get that a lot. Some people act this way when they are getting defensive. I think it is just ingrained in some peoples nature to be naturally like this. For some I don't think its being nasty its just not being able to find another way to reply.

People answers in question , because they don't want to give answers. It's a polite way of telling you to back off.

Why they ask for another question instead of answer your question directly? Just because they don't want to answer the first question. Of course, their question can't be regarded as a answer. Sometimes, when meeeting such a person, I may tend to feel confused because I think that this kind of action is impolite indeed. Yeah, it is a rude way to refuse others' questions directly.