I don’t get ’“Grate quest, John.”? either. It makes no sense to me.
My ex-husband had the gift of being able to listen well without saying anything. As headmaster of a school filled with smart, articulate and assertive people, he could sit through a facultiy or board meeting and say nothing for two or so hours. At the end he would thank everyone and usually do what he had planned pre-meeting, but everyone felt his voice had been heard. It was a gift. I would have been interupting and shouting.