I Dunno

Something I noticed: Taiwanese people won't say "I don't know." They never actually say it, even if you know that they don't know. Instead, they will say they're not sure -- "not sure" to me implies kind of knowing, which they are clearly not in the state of -- and/or give a stupid obvious, needless-to-say, help-desk-style answer.

Behold, an example follows.

"Miss X, why is our luggage not out yet? It's been a long time already."
"Oh, I'm not sure, there's probably a delay or something."

Oh, there's a delay, you say? And that's why things are being delayed from their regular schedule? No sh!t, Sherlock. A babboon could have given that answer.

Okay, granted, Taiwanese people also tend to ask stupid-obvious questions too, like, "Why is it so hot today?" Questions that are generally rhetorical, except that they actually expect an answer. I suppose the responsibility of answering a rhetorical question bears on the listener so hard that they feel obligated to propose a response, but that's just silly, no?

Even when the question could have an answer, I don't know why Taiwanese (that I've noticed) will ask questions to people who clearly wouldn't be able to answer properly anyhow. Like that luggage question: it was asked of the tour guide when they were at baggage claim. I mean, how is the tour guide supposed to know?? What, are you expecting her to say,

"Well, the previous flight's baggage was routed to that next terminal, and the underground conveyor system had a glitch in section 13A so they brought another belt from storage to get our bags here. Probably just another 7 minutes to fix and 2 minutes to warm the system up again, don't worry."

Maybe that's just part of the banter that keeps Taiwan from being too quiet. Yes, because that the problem they're facing in this society. I dunno. Wait -- I mean, I'm not sure.