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I’m just thinking about how in Medicine, lots of people would suffer if the helpers had trouble asking the basic questions.

“Did you submit cultures?”

“Why did you choose to ignore the liver enzymes in this case?”

“Did you ask about a family history of X?”

To a large extent, becoming professional is about becoming less sensitive to being wrong.

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> To a large extent, becoming professional is about becoming less sensitive to being wrong.

I agree, but there's nothing to lose in trying to become a better communicator, you're not responsible for other people's sensitivity, but you are definitely in control of what and how you communicate.

Yes but in this discussion it’s quickly become obvious that the listener is responsible for assuming good faith on the part of the questioner, because any phrasing can be interpreted as “I’m smart and you’re dumb.” Being professional is having the maturity to listen to answers when you ask questions.

Now, in the case of unsolicited advice, it may just be the questioner showing off. There’s no phrasing that will help make a person feel good that they were used to stroke someone’s ego.

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