ALL 23 QUESTIONS THAT KAREN ASKS IN MEAN GIRLS
Written by Tina Fey and based on Rosalind Wiseman's bestselling self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes, the coming-of-age comedy Mean Girls has gone on to become one of the genre's most quotable films since its 2004 release, inspiring all manner of catchphrases, parodies, and memes. But while Regina George is credited for her gamesmanship and Gretchen Wieners gets a lot of love for trying to make fetch happen despite overwhelming adversity, the contributions of the third member of The Plastics are frequently overlooked: those of Amanda Seyfried's Karen Smith.
Though she is described by Janis Ian as "one of the dumbest girls you will ever meet," we don't think it's for lack of trying on her part. As Regina barked directives and Gretchen loyally followed, Karen actually stopped to ask a lot of questions. Some may attribute this to lack of intelligence, but the more positive spin would be that she was the group's sage and, dare we say, thinker. As the old adage attributed to Socrates goes, the only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing, and Karen was the first to admit this. She even suffered for her reflections, as she was often met with ridicule and hostility by her peers.
So, in tribute to this unsung philosopher, we present the 22 questions asked by Karen Smith in Mean Girls, plus one bonus query she poses offscreen...
 
So if you're from Africa, why are you white?
Response from Gretchen: Oh my God, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white.
You wanna do something fun? You wanna go to Taco Bell?
Response from Regina: I can't go to Taco Bell, I'm on an all-carb diet! God, Karen, you are so stupid!
Why are you dressed so scary?
Response from Cady: It's Halloween.
I can put my whole fist in my mouth. Wanna see?
Response from Cady: No. That's okay.
Ma'am, do you have this [dress] in the next size up?
Response from saleswoman: Sorry. We only carry sizes 1, 3, and 5. You could try Sears.
She fires off a litany of questions when wrangled into a four-way conference call with Regina, Gretchen, and Cady...
Hello?
What are you...?
Why?
Who's this?
Okay. What is it?
She said that?
She has a back-and-forth with Gretchen at the costume party regarding her own cousin...
You know who's looking fine tonight? Seth Mosakowski.
Response from Gretchen: Okay, you did not just say that.
What? He's a good kisser.
Response from Gretchen: He's your cousin.
And she begins to realize she doesn't understand how cousins work...
That's not right, is it?
Response from Gretchen: That is so not right.
She peppers Cady with queries when she thinks that she has found a replacement for Regina...
Yeah, what are we doing?
Huh...?
What?
She demonstrates her curiosity and concern at various points...
Who is it?
Did he say why?
What are we supposed to do?
She frames her hypothetical conjecture on the notorious Burn Book as a question...
"Whoever wrote it probably didn't think anyone would ever see it"?
And proving that she was inquisitive even before we as an audience meet her, Janis' BFF Damian says that Karen asked him a question last year...
She asked me how to spell orange.
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