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I was reading some other forum and came across the debate on 'curious' word. The senior member responds telling all of below mentioned sentences mean the same thing.

Just for curiosity´s sake, .......
Just for the sake of curiosity, ...
Just out of curiosity, ....

Now, my question:

If something is out of scope, it means that thing and scope are (far?) away from each other. And so is with out of context, out of the world, out of syllabus... and instances the like.

Whoa, but then...

Asking out of curiosity - means that question and curiosity are poles apart? I'm not at all curious about it?

Now, what if I really mean that I'm not curious? The way we use --

Jack, just out of context....but your English is too bad.

If I use curiosity in the same way.. it'd be --

"We are all here to discuss our curiosities about learning English. Julie, tell me about your curiosity..." there Micky stands up and talks about French and I stop him in between... "French... ah... it's out of (our) curiosity... isn't it guys?" and all guys approve..yey!

How do I understand whether someone is really interested if s/he tells or asks out of curiosity

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  • 6
    I'm a little surprised that you asked this question.
    – Kinzle B
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 9:54
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    @ZhanlongZheng I can ask anything. It's out of my curiosity ;) Tell me what I meant!
    – Maulik V
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 10:25
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    Out of curiosity, are you out of curiosity what answer will you get?
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 12:24
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    Re the title, when the answer you expect is of the form "Yes, it does mean that/No, it doesn't mean that", the question should be "doesn't it?" not "isn't it?"
    – David Richerby
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 21:50
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    @MaulikV David is correct: your title is ungrammatical. It should be "Doesn't it?"
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 17:40

8 Answers 8

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'Out of curiosity' means I'm not curious at all. Right?

Not quite.

The "out of" in "just out of curiosity" is nothing like the "out of" in "out of gas".

Instead, that "out of" means "stemming from" or "originating from" – it means the speaker is curious, and that curiosity is prompting the person to ask a question:

Just out of curiosity, how long have you two been dating?

If the person really isn't curious, but is asking the question anyway, that would start with something like:

Not that I really care, but, how long have you two been dating?

It's also worth noting that, in the phrase "out of curiosity," we are alluding to the first meaning of curiosity, and not the second (definitions from NOAD):

curiosity
1 a strong desire to know or learn something
2 a strange or unusual object or fact

Lastly, it's worth pointing out that this doesn't sound natural at all:

"We are all here to discuss our curiosities about learning English."

I think you mean to say something like one of these:

We are all here to discuss how we are curious about learning English.
We are all here to discuss our curiosity with the English language.

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  • Why curiosity won't go with about? There's room for curiosity about the motivations of others. is absolutely okay.
    – Maulik V
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 10:31
  • @Maulik - It's not the preposition about, it's the entire phrase "here to discuss or curiosities about learning English." Since curiosity is by definition "a desire to learn about something," it doesn't seem likely we'd be discussing "our curiosities about learning English". (It's not impossible, but the way you worded it sounds very awkward, and I don't think it's what you meant to say.)
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 13:17
  • @MaulikV, often non-native speakers will speak with subtle redundancies and near-meanings in their phrasing (I assume anyone learning any new language). So, we might be here to discuss "curiosities in English" (the things that don't seem to follow the rules), or maybe we are "curious about English" (we know some and are interested in learning more), or maybe "we want to learn English because it's piqued our curiosity" (it seems like an interesting language), but if we're "curious about learning English" it means we're interested in hearing about your English learning experience, how'd it go?
    – Jason
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 21:46
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    Curiosity in the first meaning isn't usually pluralized in my experience. If we were each curious in the same way then we could discuss our [shared] curiosity about learning English. If each of us is curious in a different way about learning English, then although it's grammatically correct to discuss our [various] curiosities about learning English, the plural risks shading the meaning towards the second definition of "curiosity" above. That is to say, we have between us many things strange or unusual about learning English, and are discussing them.
    – Steve Jessop
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 22:48
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    I would downvote if I could, There is nothing wrong with the OP's way of understanding the phrase; It COULD mean; far away from my curiosity OR I have run out of curiosity OR it could mean because of my curiosity. All forms are entirely acceptable. It is all dependent on the context it is used in and person speaking. With that; USUALLY when you have no curiosity for something you don't continue a conversation that you are no longer curious about. This leads most to assume that the person speaking is continuing the conversation because of curiosity opposed to lack of.
    – user2125348
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 14:40
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Out of curiosity means because of [my] curiosity. (Sense 8 under "out" preposition uses in Collins)

All of your examples involving curiosity more or less mean the same.

Out of context, out of the world, out of syllabus mean that the item is without context, external to the world (or more commonly, very exciting or unbelievable) and not in the syllabus, respectively.

I don't think that you would actually say

Jack, just out of context... but your English is too bad.

It doesn't seem idiomatic, and it's probably because of the but.

In the same way, I don't think you could say that something is out(side) of our curiosity. You might say it's not our concern, or it's outside the scope of that discussion, but saying that something is out of our curiosity seems incredibly unusual.

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    It's also defined in Macmillan Dictionary, under "out of interest/respect/pity etc."
    – Damkerng T.
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 9:35
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    I also find the line you quote to exactly conflate the two meanings of "out" under discussion. It's not the "but" but the "just". "Just" can mean "barely" in a spatial relationship, as in "the remote control was just out of reach", leading to "...barely outside of the context...". "Just" can also be a restriction applied to a scope ("just once, I'd like ...", "I was just sad [and nothing else].") and in this sense, gives "...only coming from context...". Without the "just", this ambiguity vanishes for me, leaving the "coming forth from" meaning.
    – Eric Towers
    Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:50
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You can think of it as an abbreviated form of:

I am asking out of curiosity.

which would be parallel to:

I am begging out of hunger.

or:

I would rather avoid violence, but I am fighting out of necessity.

The "out of" here indicates the motivation or reason for the asking.

It does not mean:

I have run out of curiosity.

although that would be the case if you had said "I am out of curiosity".

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  • I'm not sure what this adds over the other answers.
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 17:43
  • @starsplusplus it adds that the phrase can be found with different meanings in a different context
    – user2125348
    Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 0:55
  • I think this answer is helpful. It points out that the weird use of out of in out of curiosity isn't an isolated occurrence, and that there are other places where out of X means with X as my motive.
    – tsleyson
    Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 3:19
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"Out of" has several contradictory meanings. It's these various meanings that are "poles apart," causing the confusion.

One meaning is "lacking" or "all used up." That's the meaning you believed to be operative. "With my curiosity all used up, I'm not curious." But "out of" used this way, refers to physical objects. "I'm out of food." But not to an intangible object, like "curiosity."

Another meaning is "Because of." That's the standard meaning in this context (for an intangible object). "Because of my curiosity, I'd like to know..."

A third meaning is "outside of" (physically), as in "out of the house." That meaning has no relevance here.

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It's a way of saying that you don't really need to know for any practical purpose, but you'd like to anyway. Like a French teacher has a Japanese student in her class and she says "Just out of curiosity, how does noun gender work in Japanese?" It's a way of making conversation.

You can also use it semi-ironically, as in "Just out of curiosity, what would happen if two people in the database had the same social security number". (And yes, they can).

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"Out of ..." may mean because of, or in response to. On the other hand "Out of ..." may be a statement to mean that there is none available, of the subject matter of which we are out: for example "Out of petrol, we had to walk the last five miles to petrol station".

"Out of curiosity.........." is said as the opening of a sentence which will most frequently be a question: for example "Because of my curiosity, I ask you how long have you been dating?" But, "Out of ...." may precede a statement with empathic tenet; for example; "Out of my sympathy for you I will give you a drink". In both of these examples the "Out of .." is more commonly spoken from an individual's perspective of their own feelings.

Whereas, the other use of "Out of ...." tends to be used to describe a set of conditions, the circumstances with which we together can find ourselves confronted.

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The words "Out of..." mean that's the reason why.

The word "curiosity" means that the asker is asking, not because they really need to know the answer, but because they are curious. They may be acknowledging that their question isn't about the main point but that they are going off on a tangent because they are wondering about the reasons why something is the way that it is.

So, I would say "yes", the asker is really curious and wants to understand something.

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"Out of curiosity" doesn't necessarily mean that you are not curious at all. "out of" here is also the same as "because of" Like for example; because of curiosity,I entered the faculty room without knocking. Your curious of what's inside the faculty room and this curiosity prompted you to enter it. "Out of ..." may mean because of, or in response to. On the other hand "Out of ..." may be a statement to mean that there is none available, of the subject matter of which we are out: for example "Out of words to say, I just shook his hand and left the place".

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