A question like:
May I ask if you've seen it all?
Can yield two answers:
- Yes, I've seen it all.
- Yes, you may ask.
Can you avoid this (the may-answer), remaining a tad more polite than usual?
Or is this just trying to be way too damn polite and the "may" should be dropped altogether?
Best Answer
Such a degree of politeness isn't normally required in such a question. When it is, anyone who answers it with your second alternative is being intolerably perverse, and you should dissociate yourself from such a person at the earliest opportunity.