My ex room mate was like this. She would come in my room wile Babylon 5 was on and talk on and on. Finaly I would just tell her times up go call some one who cares. The first couple of times she was offended, but after that it was just shrug and leave.
And you let her live? I know some people who considered talking during Babylon 5 grounds for justifiable homicide.
My ex-BIL would chant on and on about bear hunting. I made it my personal goal to see how long I could get him to keep talking about things only pertaining to himself. Thanksgiving I had him for almost 90 minutes but my husband caught on when he overheard me ooh-ing and ahh-ing and dragged BIL away just seconds short of what I KNEW was a Guiness record. On the down side, I know more about Alaskan bear hunting than any California girl has a right to know.
Ah, yes. The secret of being a bore is to tell everything in minute detail.
We had a customer like that at work who must set some type of record for this. I once saw my supervisor put him on hold for 10 minutes while she talked with someone else. She got back on the phone, and he was still talking.
I once asked him a simple question (Can we show the place?), and he started on a tangent. I said “Look, I asked you a simple question. Will you please answer it.” More tangent. I interrupted “Look, I don’t need your life story. Answer the question.” Took me four minutes to get an answer (Yes, but…)
One of these days there will be a Pit thread started about me for my tendency to commit this very offense.
My mother is notorious for this. She’ll start a conversation about something I couldn’t possibly care about, and insist I don’t care if I don’t show interest. And she rambles on and on and on. :rolleyes:
So now, I just walk out of the room. It’s fun watching her talk to herself for several minutes before she realizes I’m not there.
Robin
It’s not an offense online, where we have the incredible power of the scroll.
Just make sure you put anything real important–like “help there is a mad man in my house and he’s eating my cat”-- in bold or in its own short paragraph.
And shrew, i know exactly what you are talking about: teachers, by and large, are people who like to talk. People who don’t like to talk don’t stay teachers very long. But your ears can get tired.
I just tell them I don’t care about whatever they’re going on about and to either talk about something that’s interesting or shut up.
Hmmm… Maybe that’s why I don’t have many friends.
I avoid them.
(how’s that for being to the point?)
Or, like me, they teach in a way that requires little to no lecturing. I don’t like to be bored to tears, and I don’t like to bore people to tears.
I’m a terribly rude person. If somebody starts boring me, I’ll just start staring off into space and thinking about whatever. I don’t know anybody who talks that much, though, so this usually happens when a teacher is talking (sorry shrew!) or if somebody is telling a story I’m not particularly interested in. But I don’t do it on purpose! My mind just slips away to dwell on something more interesting, like my plans for the future, projects I need to finish, how I want to visit Santa Fe, why the Beatles is the best band ever, what I want for my birthday, etc. I can amuse myself for quite a while like this. In essence, I’m saying that the random detritus of my mind is more interesting than whatever you’re saying. Hey, I said right up front that I’m a rude person!
BTW, my random mind banter may sound boring to you, but it’s terribly interesting to me. I think there’s a lesson to be learned in this.
Indeed, but pity the Dopers who have met me in person!
A friend told me his shrink interrupted him to say that he was a nonstop talker. Then the shrink said this was a telltale symptom of Attention Deficit Disorder. Ever since then, I’ve wondered about some nonstop talkers I know.
Maybe this should be a thread of its own, rather than tacked onto this one…
–Nott, the nonstop listener, sometimes
Bike riding? No.
Bison? No.
Teacher? No.
During Babylon 5? NO!
Bear hunting? What?
Whew! Was I the only person who read this thread secretly thinking, “Please, please, please don’t let any of these people be referring to me.
Hi, I’m SpoilerVirgin, and I TALK TOO MUCH.
I know I do it – I’ve been doing it all my life. I try hard to remind myself to listen to what the other person has to say, to leave appropriate “escape” pauses, and even to sometimes just enjoy the silence. But it’s tough. I just love to talk.
One tip – when I’m talking, I’m not paying any attention to your body language. You may feel like you’re frantically signaling your need to get away, but I’m just not getting the message. What does work with me is “I’ve got to go now.” You don’t even need an explanation. Just tell me you’re leaving, and I’ll let you go. O.K., I’m not guaranteeing that I won’t say, “Just one more thing…” but I promise that that will be it.
Oh, and I definitely do not have ADD. I’m very focused, deliberate, and diligent. I just can’t shut up.
I have to say, I’m not as drastic as some. No sock full of walnuts to the head. I’ve just learned to cope.
Oh, sure, some complete stranger blathering on, I’ll interrupt with a firm “gotta go.”
But my dearest friend and office mate, on the other hand, I mostly try to tolerate. She just can’t tell a story without including every single detail. Or stopping two or three times to say, “Was it Monday? Maybe it was Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday 'cos that’s when I was doing my laundry and stopped on the way to” …you get the picture. I loves her, but concise she’s not. She knows it’s a problem and sometimes tries to reign herself in, but at best she’s still at 80% verbosity (is it a word? 
). The worst, I have to admit, is when she recounts a phone call, and I’m left feeling that I’ve heard every bit of conversation. Makes me twitch.
I’ve fallen- and I can’t shut up!
I definately talk too much, but never to the point of driving people to distraction. I try hard to make sure it’s a two way conversation, but I do love to talk.
My God, I’m ashamed at what I thought that said…carry on.
Zette
(Who can talk the ear off a concrete elephant)
Heh, my boyfriend and I were an hour early and first in line to see Spider Man last weekend. I left him to hold our place in line while I ran around the corner to Borders to exchange a book.
When I got back, he was nearly pinned against the wall while some guy went ON AND ON about Magic the Gathering cards. (note, while I know what they are, neither of us have ever played or had any interest in Magic cards).
My boyfriend looked a little like a deer in the headlights, he could NOT get away from the Magic card guy! How could anyone be that oblivious?
shrew, I’d argue that even a teacher that does little or no lecturing best not hate to talk: there are a great many places besides the lecturn where you need to talk. I’ve had a few teachers who obviously did not enjoy talking with their students, and they were not effective.
‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge was known for being far from verbose. Once, someone bet Cal that he could be made to say three words. Cal’s response?
“You lose.”
There is a woman in one of the units in the hospital where I work who gets up really close when she wants to talk to you, about three inches from nose to nose, if you move back she just moves forward to maintain the same distance, add to that she has the most shrill voice on the planet, add to that she speaks really fast, add to that she spits when she talks, add to that she is an alcoholic so you can smell the stale liquor on her breath, add to that she very animated so her arms are flying in all directions, add to that she is just plain nuts. :eek: