> hey dude! consent check: may Abe and I bump your salary up to [11.35% increase]?
> haha there’s also an implied assumption of consent to the question on my part 😄 you can also say “I do not want to evaluate that question”, in which case I’ll just kick that in for the next paycheck without you feeling forced into rigamarole 😂
> ahhh now I understand why people say “can I ask if xyz?” rather than just asking “xyz?”
I think this is what Spirited Away's whole mutual-acknowledgement-of-shared-understanding-thing was about