English is not my native language and I've sometimes trouble following social norms with different expressions. I hit a situation where the counterpart asked "tell me what you like about X" and it later turned out that they were expecting only positives as the response. And because I understood that expression as asking for my honest opinion, I mentioned both pros and cons which did caused them to be upset. (The question wasn't about a person in case that makes a difference.)
Do any of the following expressions ask for honest opinion or is the other party expecting to receive only praises when they ask questions like these?
- "What do you like ..."
- "Why do you like ..."
- "How do you like ..."
I understand that the word "like" is nowadays somewhat problematic here because it's commonly used as user interface action in social media to represent positive interaction only.
If the answer is "it depends on region" instead of "it's interpreted like this in generic English", that's interesting to know, too.