What is the most ridiculous thing about philosophy?

The other day I was in a bookshop and I found a book on analytic philosophy. The opening was a dialogue between Plato and Socrates about the definition of analytic philosophy. <br><br>I was immediately struck by the following:<br>1. Ancient Greeks cannot speak modern English; it would be a translation and translation is not possible.<br>2. The Socratic method relies on them talking face to face, but there are 500 years in between them so they could never talk.<br>3. Supposing the bizarre miracle that they both knew English and that they both somehow lived long enough to meet, then would Socrates be able to understand Plato? He would be a strange looking man calling himself Greek who speaks in a completely different language that isn't understandable. If Socrates was able to understand him, then he would be able to understand English and ancient Greek, how to do Greek philosophy and how to do modern philosophy. If he understood all this, then it would be him teaching Plato because Socrates had no teachers and knew nothing. <br><br>This is what philosophy is for me. A totally useless conversation filled with impossible obstacles that is barely possible with two people in the same room, let alone across cultures and time. <br>If we are going to criticise Wittgenstein for saying to do philosophy is to be like the child in the supermarket, why must we build such a large supermarket?