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That's how I got over my terrible shyness as a young adult. Johnny Carson was being interviewed by someone, and he said, "Everyone thinks I am such a great talk show host, but all I really do is ask people questions about themselves, and they start talking. Everyone loves to talk about themselves and all I have to do is ask the questions."
I thought, Hmm, and the next time I went to a party, I moved out of the crowd and into the kitchen, as I often did, but people kept coming in to get beer from the fridge. A couple of people said hello, and introduced themselves, so I said my name and then said, "I work with Rosemarie. So how do you know her?" And they would launch into a story, and from the story I would find another question to ask, and the next thing you know Rosemarie called me and told me how Dean and Mary and Lisa said they met me and thought I was such a great person. All I did was ask them about themselves and let them talk.
Boring. People who talk about one thing over and over again. They may not even realize they're doing it. Especially people who talk about how great some movie was and insist that everyone else has to watch it, too.
In my day-to-day world, second only to what someone's grandchild is doing, is what someone's PET is doing! I don't give a crap about your dog or cat's antics, so please for the love of God SPARE me! My last boss thought it was incredibly funny to show her poop-filled shoes after her dog had left her a little "present" in them! Really? After the "presents" persisted, I would show that dog the door to the nearest animal pound!
Third would be your reality show or celebrity worship. I don't follow celebrities, they don't care about me, I don't care about them, and here's a wake up call for you - They don't care about YOU either! Get a life!
Whew - I feel better now.
Hi RogueMom,
It's too bad these simple things cannot be tolerated for the sake of the other person's feelings. It is simply good etiquette to be courteous. When they stick those pictures in front of you just say "how nice" and if they try another one just say "no I'm fine thanks".
So who here talks about all their great City Data posts???? Lol
Haha, well, since you asked...I've definitely brought up city-data threads to people in real life...not always the wisest decision on my part, heh. That's probably when I begin to veer into the domain of the boring, if I hadn't already...if it hasn't already been mentioned in this thread, then 'recently contested Internet debates' should definitely be added to the list of boring conversational topics. Two of my friends do read this forum on occasion, though, so they've tended to be the ones to whom I'll mention a recent thread topic that pertains to whatever we're discussing at the time. A decent number of people whom I know take some perverse pleasure in bashing their/our native upstate NY, so that would tend to be the tie-in otherwise....
Stories about other people -- people you don't even know.
I was treated to two hours of this recently when I made the mistake of joining my friend and four of his co-workers for dinner. The entire time was spent listening to workplace gossip...except 'listening' isn't really the right word, for I was so thoroughly disengaged that I'm not sure I retained any of it
Sports. It's not that I dislike sports and I like watching a game. But I have no desire to hear someone relive the entire weekend, and dissect every play, while commenting how they were robbed or the coach or whatever. And especially not about Alabama football. In your face non stop. Even if Alabama didn't play this weekend, they'll give you a complete description of what might have happened if they did play.
Third would be your reality show or celebrity worship. I don't follow celebrities, they don't care about me, I don't care about them, and here's a wake up call for you - They don't care about YOU either! Get a life!
This is certainly one of mine as well. It's one thing to be a fan of a celebrity, but when you act like he/she is a close friend that's too extreme. I have a relative who sometimes to refers to celebrity chefs and pro golf players by first name only and who has been known to talk about celebrities' families the same way I'd talk about my own family. Another time, someone posted on social media about a certain celebrity's death as though she might never recover from it, even months after it happened.
My addition to the list, which may have been said already, is any topic the person has already covered to death. One friend of mine tells the same stories about former co-workers, acquaintances, professors, etc., time and time again. At least he's given up telling bad jokes!
This is certainly one of mine as well. It's one thing to be a fan of a celebrity, but when you act like he/she is a close friend that's too extreme. I have a relative who sometimes to refers to celebrity chefs and pro golf players by first name only and who has been known to talk about celebrities' families the same way I'd talk about my own family. Another time, someone posted on social media about a certain celebrity's death as though she might never recover from it, even months after it happened.
My addition to the list, which may have been said already, is any topic the person has already covered to death. One friend of mine tells the same stories about former co-workers, acquaintances, professors, etc., time and time again. At least he's given up telling bad jokes!
Sports. It's not that I dislike sports and I like watching a game. But I have no desire to hear someone relive the entire weekend, and dissect every play, while commenting how they were robbed or the coach or whatever. And especially not about Alabama football. In your face non stop. Even if Alabama didn't play this weekend, they'll give you a complete description of what might have happened if they did play.
I'm not a sports fan so sports conversations with me don't go too far. What I don't like is going to someone's house or to a bar and watching a game. You just sit there while people yell at the TV. I just can't get into it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michael917
This is certainly one of mine as well. It's one thing to be a fan of a celebrity, but when you act like he/she is a close friend that's too extreme. I have a relative who sometimes to refers to celebrity chefs and pro golf players by first name only and who has been known to talk about celebrities' families the same way I'd talk about my own family. Another time, someone posted on social media about a certain celebrity's death as though she might never recover from it, even months after it happened.
My addition to the list, which may have been said already, is any topic the person has already covered to death. One friend of mine tells the same stories about former co-workers, acquaintances, professors, etc., time and time again. At least he's given up telling bad jokes!
I'm not a sports fan so sports conversations with me don't go too far. What I don't like is going to someone's house or to a bar and watching a game. You just sit there while people yell at the TV. I just can't get into it.
Agreed. One of the challenges about sports talk is when you are in a group where exiting is tricky, e.g. department lunch. It seems silly to pretend to be interested in or following intricate details of people or plays you clearly know nothing about, so you pretty much end up excluded from the conversation for the duration of that topic. Smile and nod, blank stare, look away? All I can say is, thank goodness for smartphones and low expectations on manners these days.
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What I don't like is going to someone's house or to a bar and watching a game. You just sit there while people yell at the TV. I just can't get into it.
