>Hold on there Pancho. "What is this door made of?" is a perfectly good question for finding out what the door is made of. Why would I need another way to ask the same question just for the purpose of retrieving an adjective instead of a noun in the response? I can think of no possible liguistic need that it would serve.

Just for about any other situation where you already know what the object is, but want to inquire about its properties. Specifically, "what is this place?" is actually grating on my nerves, because the answer is "it's a place", "it's a location", "it's somewhere to be".

>>And "adequate" is just that...
>
>Adequate: 1. sufficient for a specific requirement.
>
>What do I need for this type of situation beyond "adequate"?

OK: if "what" is not adequate, then --- is it? Give me a word. "What is it" doesn't work, because I'll answer "it's a language issue". If this question is not clear, then --- is it? "What is it" doesn't work, because I'll answer "it's a question".