Reader question: What does "anything goes" mean and, how to use it?

My comments:

It means everything is permitted, or tolerated.

There's a party you're going to attend and you ask the host what dress to wear, formal (suit and tie to one extreme) or informal (sandals and shorts to the other)? "Anything goes," quips the host, "anything's fine so long as you wear something."

A reader of these pages once asked me: "What kind of questions can I ask? Should I ask you about English, translation, or career and life? What kind of questions do you prefer replying to?"

These questions suggest that he doesn't know what to ask. And I'm not going to interfere.

Seriously, anything goes. I'm not going to set limits to what readers may or may not ask. That's not fair. My job is to answer readers' questions (if they have any), not to tell them what questions to ask and in what manner. What questions do I prefer? I don't know for sure. My preferences are a sometimes thing, you know. They change. I don't always know for sure. What I do always know for sure is that I can't guarantee answering any particular question on any given date, or at all even if I would like to, and I sure would like to.

Anyways, in the spirit of fair play and also to make your lives and mine easier, you just do your part (and fire away with questions however queer) and I'll do mine, sharing with you what ideas I happen to have at the time of writing.

Which leads us to an Alan Watts (Google him) lecture I once heard via audio. The story in question is: if everyone is allowed one question to ask God, what question are you going to ask?

Anything goes – you may ask whatever you want to. What are you going to ask?

Alan Watts points out that most people would dither, going over one question after another in their head without being able to settle on any particular one. Who am I? No, that sounds infantile. Why am I here? That too sounds stupid. Why do you arrange the stars that way? That doesn't sound very intelligent, either. You've only one question to ask and you're not going to waste it with that one, are you?

You've got the gist: Anything goes and yet no-one knows where to start.

It's easy for me, by the way. If I were to ask God a question, I would not hesitate one moment. I am an atheist, you know, and I'd blurt: "Heavens, is it you?"

Kidding aside, here's Ella Fitzgerald singing "Anything goes" by Cole Porter:

...

In olden days a glimpse of stocking

Was looked on as something shocking,

But now, God knows,

Anything Goes.

Good authors too who once knew better words,

Now only use four letter words

Writing prose,

Anything Goes.

If driving fast cars you like

If low bars you like

If old hymns you like

If bare limbs you like

If Mae West you like

Or me undressed you like

Why nobody will oppose

Anything goes

The world has gone mad today

And good's bad today,

And black's white today,

And day's night today,

And that gent today

You gave a cent today

Once owned several chateaus

When folks

Who still can ride in jitneys

Find out Vanderbilts and Whitney's

Lack baby clothes

Anything goes

...

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.