I often ask people casually what they think of biometrics; at a brunch last weekend I offhandedly asked if fear of a cut off finger would prohibit them from signing up for a biometric fingerprint system.
It took hours before he offhandedly asked, "Did you do something different?" This was not a mere haircut.
Rather offhandedly, Murdoch asked, "Does Ted want to sell any assets?" "No," Malone replied, with equal aplomb.
Offhandedly they asked if I wanted to see a private demo of their glasses-free 3D TV.
Then one day, my mother asked offhandedly if I was "enjoying him".
The sergeant notified a battalion doctor, who showed up unannounced at Colonel Brunk's office and asked offhandedly about a photograph on the wall.
We make small talk for what seems like ages before I ask, offhandedly, if everything looks all right.
After dinner, we asked Mr. Denis, offhandedly, how much he would charge for the most lavish dinner for two that he and his chef could prepare.
A few years ago, a friend of mine, Jason, and I were in a business meeting with some executives at a large, well-respected company when one of the men across the table from us offhandedly called Jason "a risk taker". Jason asked him, "How am I a risk taker?" The man responded defensively, "I mean you're an entrepreneur.
Several times in his narrative Benni refers to the school as the Castle ("Are you from the Castle?" one character asks the boys), and you wonder offhandedly if he has Kafka's in mind.
