# Everybody has a topic they can bore people to death talking about... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882 "2012-08-08T17:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/141 "2013-08-05T16:46:01Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have many, but the worst is: > > Kerning. You win! I think we news junkies heard enough about kerning back in 2004 to last us a Lazarus Long lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/142 "2013-08-05T16:59:30Z")
I could bore people with talking about running, but I realized a long time ago that most people confuse my interest and enthusiasm with bragging. So, I generally shut up unless someone asks me. > [@Rachellelogram](#): > > [ul] > [li]marching band/drum corp shows[/li][/ul] Yep. Never bother trying to even explain drum corps to someone who has no frame of reference. Always wanted to end those conversations with “Sheeeeeze. Just forget it.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/143 "2013-08-05T17:03:40Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Everything I find interesting, apparently. ☹ Same thing with me. :dubious: Haven’t read the whole thread, but kids’ sports teams and dance recitals aren’t exactly interesting to anyone other than the participants either. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/144 "2013-08-05T17:24:06Z")
It’s not the topic, it’s me. I could send a ransom note and the reply would be “TL;DR” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/145 "2013-08-05T17:36:05Z")
Fascinating thread! This is the most interesting group of people that any of us are likely to ever meet in real life (or meatspace as some young folks like to say). I have topics that I bore my friends with other than ‘my grandchildren’. AD&D (2nd Edition) Smoky Mountains lore and herbology Archaic or obsolete musical instruments My latest artwork and/or poetry But nothing as cool as temperature sensors or indexing. I am boring. And yes, this is a zombie. So shoot me. Headshot, please. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/146 "2013-08-05T17:46:44Z")
router bits. i’ve broadened my interests in life. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/147 "2013-08-05T17:55:50Z")
Textual biblical criticism. Impressionist art. Silver age comic books. RPG monsters (various systems) American history, especially the Revolutionary War/early U.S. government Comparative religion. My daughter says my “Indian name” is Big Snooze. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/148 "2013-08-05T18:09:38Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > How automation will result in mass unemployment, and how American society is utterly unprepared to deal with it, from the impact of driverless vehicles, to how the on-line retailers sell vastly more goods employing almost no one. Basically, that every retail industry is going to suffer the same contraction the music and book industry. The fact that the recession is over from the perspective of corporate sales, but unemployment hasn’t recovered… > > People really don’t want to hear it. I like those topics to some degree, especially driverless cars. The way society is constantly shifting to accommodate or exploit new technologies makes for an interesting discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/149 "2013-08-05T18:58:07Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > How automation will result in mass unemployment, and how American society is utterly unprepared to deal with it, from the impact of driverless vehicles, to how the on-line retailers sell vastly more goods employing almost no one. Basically, that every retail industry is going to suffer the same contraction the music and book industry. The fact that the recession is over from the perspective of corporate sales, but unemployment hasn’t recovered… > > People really don’t want to hear it. I’ve gotten into some vigorous debates with people on the Dope on the very topics you mention. In real life, no one I know has the slightest interest. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/150 "2013-08-05T19:40:48Z")
Jeez, this thread is boring. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/151 "2013-08-06T03:50:31Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The many ins and outs of language family trees: Afro-Asiatic, Algonquian, Altaic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Iroquoian, Muskhogean, Niger-Congo, Northwest Caucasian, Siouan, Uralic, to take a few, not to leave out isolates like Basque and Hurrian, and the history of how they compare and exchange and transform linguistic data through universal deep grammar processes, and maybe even interrelate. How I develop vocabulary, grammar, and scripts for my conlangs from _a posteriori_ source material and the universal linguistic principles at work there. Am I allowed to take notes and ask you to slow down as needed? > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Okay, so there are basically two styles of alphabetization: word-by-word and letter-by-letter… > > Word-by-word () alphabetization stops at the first space or comma, and you don’t consider the second word in the phrase unless the first one is identical to the previous/subsequent entry. > > In letter-by-letter alphabetization, you ignore spaces and commas and treat multiple-word phrases as though they are all one word run together. > [@Johanna](#): > > How odd. I find word by word ordering to be ridiculous and unintuitive, and I find letter by letter to be sensible and intuitive. > > No wonder there are two systems. You can’t please everybody. Not two, please ladies mind using alphabetization by syntactic unit? Those of us with multi-word names and lastnames, as well as people living in locations with multiple-word names will appreciate it! ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/152 "2013-08-06T04:05:09Z")
Oh god, I can make my husband fall asleep instantly by starting on: Punk rock (including folk punk and post punk) Australian history Law Rush (the band, which is not at all punk) Weight lifting Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls Boots Tattoos I’m so very sure there’s more but that’s what I’ve been droning on about recently. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/153 "2013-08-06T04:51:36Z")
Guitars. Electric guitars. Long tedious discussions about seriously _important_ things about them. :rolleyes: Yup. I can also bore you to tears about what I get paid to do: write NLE video editing and imaging software and all the ins and outs of digital video and audio formats and processing. Let’s have lunch sometime and discuss debayering or deinterlacing algorithms, media container format strengths, quirks and differences, how to optimize 4k playback throughput, all that fun jazz. I’m quite the party guy. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/154 "2013-08-06T05:34:25Z")
Wow, crickets. Again. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/155 "2013-08-06T15:13:25Z")
My wedding day. I had my dream wedding in Las Vegas a couple of years ago and I love to talk about it. I can see people’s eyes glaze over and yet I still chatter on and on. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/156 "2013-08-06T15:42:38Z")
Baseball cards Sport jerseys, logos and wordmarks ([Paul Lukas](http://www.uni-watch.com/) is the man) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/157 "2013-08-06T20:47:56Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Trains Am a bit surprised at being only the second on the thread, with this one. Friends and relatives tend to become pale, turn tail, and flee, when I get going on this pet enthusiasm of mine. Perhaps I’m just one of those people who can make even the fascinating, sound boring… ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/158 "2013-08-06T20:55:02Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Am a bit surprised at being only the second on the thread, with this one. Friends and relatives tend to become pale, turn tail, and flee, when I get going on this pet enthusiasm of mine. Perhaps I’m just one of those people who can make even the fascinating, sound boring… What exactly do you talk about trains? Models, history of different lines, locomotion generally? I don’t know much about trains, but I saw the IMAX movie about the CPR and Banff at least twice, and I think I’d enjoy a train chat! ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/159 "2013-08-06T21:34:05Z")
I just learned today that I can completely bore people by talking about tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882/160 "2013-08-06T22:28:33Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > What exactly do you talk about trains? Models, history of different lines, locomotion generally? I don’t know much about trains, but I saw the IMAX movie about the CPR and Banff at least twice, and I think I’d enjoy a train chat! History of the whole thing – steam locomotives (hugely regret that in serious commercial service, they’ve almost totally vanished from the world) and dwelling on the past, when they predominated – I love lesser-and-lighter railways (in American parlance, I gather, “short lines”), especially narrow-gauge ones – some interest in most aspects, including current preserved-steam operations. I don’t, myself, “do” model railways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-has-a-topic-they-can-bore-people-to-death-talking-about/630882.md?page=9)