What do you say to people who constantly talk about inane things you have no interest in?

[lightningandsnow]

I have a friend who does this all the time.

Even worse, he gets dismissive when I try to talk about anything that actually affects me.

[Danger Mouse]

I don't talk to them. Period.

I'm totally serious about that.

[Skittles]

1. "SHUT THE FUCK UP"

try it

[Aristus]

2. "Honey, I'm trying to sleep..."

B-)

[Flaxbee]

4. lol

:spank:

[Aristus]

6. Ouch, ouch, OUCH!

...do it again... :evilgrin:

[Mopar151]

5. Yes, dear....n/t

[SeattleGirl]

3. I try to stay away from those people. I can't stand those kinds of

"conversations" except in small dribs and drabs.

[gratuitous]

7. Welcome to the Lounge?

I dunno.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. Damn you.

You stole my joke.

Well, kudos to you, my friend.

[mcctatas]

8. "Interesting...

now take your clothes off" :evilgrin:

[haele]

9. I always introduce myself like this -

Hi, I'm Haele - sometimes I'm a bit of a chatterbox, especially when I'm board or upset. Feel free to tell me it's all right to shut up now when it gets too bad. I won't take it personally.

Haele

[fizzgig]

21. i've made that same disclaimer

i can be obnoxiously chatty at times

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

10. I had a friend like that once

she would call me and yammer on about what a deal she got at Fingerhut for 4 towels, gossip about her 15,000 cousins and the ups and downs of their lives. I didn't know any of these people from a fucking can of corn either. Then caller ID was invented and that put an end to that.

If your not getting anything out of your friendship with this guy then I guess it's pretty clear what you need to do, especially if he acts dismissively towards you.

[cleveramerican]

11. "good luck with all of that!"

or.... "let me know how that works out for you"

[Callalily]

12. *sigh* yes, that is

a problem, especially if that person is your brother, as in my case. I love him dearly, but he comes up with the wackiest, unsubstantiated stuff.

I try to change the subject, sometimes it works, sometimes not.

[vadawg]

13. ok mr congressman ill vote for you, or yes senator etc etc :)

[cleveramerican]

14. " I just swallowed a bug"

I swiped it from "Good Will Hunting"

No one will ever question you.. or continue talking to you.... try it.. it works like a charm.

[HopeHoops]

15. Interrupt with, "I love to go to laundromats and tell fortunes reading dirty underwear stains"

"There was this one pair that was really interesting..."

Keep making shit up (pun intended) until he makes an excuse to leave.

[Patiod]

16. I had a colleague like that

We all suspected he had Asperger's. He was a rabid baseball fan, a former New Yorker, and OBSESSED by the Yankees. When he found out I had Phillies season tickets, he was always buttonholing me.

I simply said: "Greg, I don't follow the American League. I know you like to complain about the Yankees, and what they did last night, but I dont' watch AL games, and don't know anything about the players you're talking about. If you want to talk about how the Phils did last night, fine. But NO YANKEES TALK? Okay?"

Sometimes people are just clueless, and a simple "That's not a topic I know anything about or have any interest in, but what about X (a topic you do have an interest in)" is effective

(Geez, now I wished I still worked there and had him to share MY complaints about the Yankees)

[crim son]

17. I limit my contact with them

not only to preserve my sanity, but to avoid the possibility that they notice how boring I find them to be.

[mentalsolstice]

19. Uh-oh, you said the word "inane"

This won't go well...

[applegrove]

20. Doesn't sound like a very good friend.

[NJmaverick]

22. Why are they your friend?

[mitchum]

23. Unfortunately, most conversations are inane

Humans are just that way

[Blue-Jay]

24. I say "Welcome to the DU Lounge!"

:yoiks:

[TommyO]

25. Shut up, Mom!

Not that I would ever do that to her face.

[pitohui]

26. if they're constantly talking i don't have to

if it's some situation where you can't leave (work, marriage, etc.) just nodding and saying "oh yeah, no kidding, me too" or some such babble once in awhile works just fine while you continue to go abt your business

if it's some situation where it's silly NOT to leave -- a "friend" but now the friend bores you and you have nothing in common, not sure why you wouldn't just quietly cut the cord, it's easy to stop taking calls and to block email and pretty much ignore people these days, if nothing else, there's always the "well, can't talk now, have an appointment/caller on the other line bye"

[Arkansas Granny]

27. Yeah, uh-huh, is that right?, OK, yeah, oh really, uh-huh, I see . . . .

[TK421]

28. I start screaming wildly and start swatting at things that aren't there

works when I'm in large crowds and people insist on not moving

[Chan790]

29. I don't have that problem...

I refuse to be friends with people who say inane things like "How about that weather?" or "How about those Mets?" or "NJ Governor-elect Chris Christie is one sexy Christ-filled man." (I did admittedly ask if it was the creamy or chunky Christ filling.)

I tend to scream Dylan Thomas's famous words "Rage! Rage against the dying of the light!" and run away. You can say a lot of things about me but that I'm inane or boring is not one of them. Insane...yes.

[charlie and algernon]

30. I had a "friend" who use to IM me within minutes of whenever she logged on

then she would proceed to gossip/grip/etc about people and events that not only had no bearing on me, I hadn't the slightest idea who they were. I'd get these looooong IMs detailing her life. Yet as soon as I started to update her with what I was doing, her end would go quiet and the conversation would end. lol

[Broken_Hero]

45. Same here, but

a lot of details about her cat, and what her cat was currently doing, what her cat did in the not so distant past, and what she plans to do with the cat later on that day, what she plans on feeding her cat later on, and telling me about all the updates on said cats myspace page.

It gets tedious sometimes...

:hide:

[unpossibles]

31. it's similar to how one deals with unwanted affections from a cat....

You need to make them want to not want to talk to you.

Start saying crazy non sequiturs and if they something awful, start laughing maniacally - if they say something warm and heartwarming, proclaim "how dreadful!"

Or, no matter what they say, start talking about your houseplants/cats/children's ______/bowel movements/episiotomy scar tissue/sinus infections/murder convictions/pustules or whatever topic you think they won't have in common, and talk about nothing else.

Trust me; they will stop talking to you. I did this to this guy who always wanted to talk about Jesus and football, two things I usually avoid. At first, I politely told him that I did not watch sports and am not religious, but this obvious hint was too subtle, so I had to ramp it up a notch.

This also can work with people hitting on you, btw.

[Joe the Liberal]

32. My brother does that.....

and it is very annoying, he's a complete conspiracy nut of the Alex Jones brand so he's always coming up and telling me the newest wackjob conspiracy theory of the week. I've told him over and over again that he is an idiot and that I just don't care.

When he comes in and starts running off at the mouth about things I have no interest in I basically just ignore him until he stops talking and then say "Wow that's very interesting, I really don't give a shit so go tell it to someone who cares" and then I just walk away.

[AlienGirl]

34. With the wacky conspiracy babblers, I politely ask penetrating questions

I ask for sources, ask how the sources were verified, and poke at any areas that seem patently impossible or absurd. I try to find ways to get them to ask themselves why they believe what they believe, and try to lead them toward doing some reality-checking. Directly challenging delusional thought processes will reinforce the delusions, but encouraging reality testing and openness to questioning can eventually reduce the attachment to the delusion.

Tucker

[Ineeda]

33. Three brothers (can't choose your family)

Oldest brother - NASCAR or other car-related stuff, non-stop. A sweetheart.
Middle brother - me-me-me, narcissistic crapola. A sociopath, I think.
Youngest brother - horror movies, the gorier the better. Uber gentle. Weird, I know.
Thank dog for sisters.

[AlienGirl]

35. I listen and try to understand it and why it matters to them

It relieves me of having to think of something to say besides "Oh, fascinating" or "Uh huh...and then what?" And I learn more about the person, and sometimes about a topic that I can use in future conversations with other people.

Tucker

[Boojatta]

36. No Reply

[PVnRT]

37. Scream "EVERYBODY DOWN!" and tackle them

Then yell "TAG, YOU'RE IT" and run off.

[Odin2005]

38. I AM the person that goes on about things that bore people to death!

:rofl:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

39. Calvin Coolidge: "If you keep dead still they'll run down in three or four minutes."

And that is the ONLY time I will EVER quote a Republican!

[midnight armadillo]

40. I spray them with fox urine.

[Swede]

41. I'm sorry,I wasn't listening.

[GOPisEvil]

42. I hide in shadows, with a high-powered rifle, which speaks for me.

Just kidding.

Or am I?

[NNadir]

43. Well usually I stay in another room when my son's girlfriend's Mom comes over to pick her daughter

up.

I, um, mean ex-girlfriend!

:fistbump:

Actually, the girlfriend wasn't all that bad, but her mother...

Oh geeze, I can't take that woman...

But I bit my tongue and said nothing.

[astral]

44. Okay, Okay! I won't call you anymore!