You know what? I'm with him on this one. Not all of us are hardcore gamers. Some people just like to play casually - and it's cool if they only occasionally sift through their rulebook. It's really not hurting any of us to answer questions - if we don't feel like it, we don't.
So, let him ask, and let's not pester him to read a rulebook if that's not what he wants to do with his spare time. I have at least two players at my table who haven't read the rulebook, and probably never will. One of them knows very little about the finer points of the game, and I'm cool with that.
So, yeah, I think some people here should lay off, and let the guy ask away. It's not our place to reprimand, or anything like that.