"tactless question" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It refers to a question that is poorly or insensitively worded, causing offense or discomfort to the person being asked. It is typically used in a critical or disapproving context. Example: The journalist's tactless question about the politician's personal life caused an uproar among the public and sparked a heated debate on privacy rights.
There's a blue-bereted Russian military adviser who is allowed to frown in a couple of scenes, but the tactless question of the Chinese – without whom North Korea can do nothing in the real world – is not mentioned.
He took this slightly tactless question in stride, saying that he never intended to become extremely wealthy, and that it was more important to do something you were interested in.
Couldn't you hack it?" I can't imagine asking such an tactless question to a divorced person.
In a realm where tactless questions have become commonplace, writes Michael Silver of Yahoo.com, Ireland has nonetheless reached a new low.
Conversely, the irascible Wanda stirs up the past and riles everyone with tactless questions about Ida's Jewish parents.
(Dorian Gray much?) When people ask us annoying, tactless questions, responding, "Why do you ask?" can sometimes be an effective way of not answering, letting them discover their rudeness in justifying the question.
An agent who works on the phone from home once said she asked a lot of tactless questions -- about mobility, for example -- because she could not see the client.
Indeed, when we got over the surprise of discovering him to be a pleasant fellow, he even fielded borderline tactless questions, unthinkable to ask of someone with his image.
I remember once awkwardly broaching the Sylvia question with him at a conference after several glasses of wine and being touched and amazed at the flood of loving recollection released by a simple – and tactless – inquiry.
I remember once awkwardly broaching the Sylvia question with him, after several glasses of wine, and being touched and amazed at the flood of loving recollection released by a simple – and tactless – inquiry.
Thankfully, it never happened to me, but I know people who have been victims of this and who still bear a grudge against the cruel or tactless grown-up in question.
