asking for a friend

Meaning: (idiomatic,humorous)Indicates that a question is embarrassing by pretending to be posing the question on behalf of another person.2015, Belle Payton,Even the Score, page70:“Oh, please, like we'd ever believe that whole 'I'masking for a friend' routine.”2016October 9, “Celebrities React to Presidential Town Hall Debate 2016”, inJust Jared:How many more of these #debates do we have to suffer through?Asking for a friend. — Eva Amurri Martino (@TheHappilyEva)2018, "Lakers survive Ball's gaffe to beat Thunder in OT". —LeBron James(@KingJames)"So what really is "in the shooting motion" rule?!?!?" James wrote on Twitter. "Asking for a friend@OfficialNBARefs."

Examples:

EN: Well, I'm asking for a friend of mine who's in the service.
ES: Es que un amigo mío está en el ejército.
EN: I'm here asking for a friend, Jacques.
ES: Quiero información para un amigo, Jacques,...
EN: Hey, asking for a friend.
ES: Oye, un amigo quiere saber.
EN: Just asking for a friend.
ES: Solo lo pregunto para un amigo.
ES: Lo pregunto por un amigo.
ES: Preguntaba por un amigo.
EN: Just 'cause I'm asking for a friend.
ES: Estoy preguntando por un amigo
EN: I just was asking for a friend.
ES: Solo pregunto por un amigo.
EN: I'm just asking for a friend. Oh.
ES: No, nunca.
EN: Actually, I'm asking for a friend of mine.
ES: En realidad, pregunto para un amigo mío.
EN: I'm asking for a friend.
ES: Es para una amiga.
ES: Lo pregunto para una amiga.
ES: Pregunto para un amigo.
ES: Pregunto para un amigo.
ES: Estoy pidiendo un amigo
ES: Lo pregunto por un amigo.
ES: Es por un amigo.
ES: Lo pregunto por una amiga.
EN: Hashtag, just asking for a friend.
ES: Hashtag, solo pregunto para una amiga.
EN: Actually, I'm asking for a friend.
ES: De hecho, pregunto por una amiga.
EN: - Just asking for a friend.
ES: - Solo lo pregunto para un amigo.
EN: Just asking for a friend. Me.
ES: Solo pregunto por un amigo.
EN: I'm... I'm asking for a friend.
ES: Pregunto por un amigo.
EN: Just out of curiosity asking for a friend, where did you get the shirt, and how much did it cost?
ES: Solo por curiosidad para un amigo: ¿dónde ha comprado esa camiseta y cuánto le ha costado?

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).