I don’t know if I would write someone off, exactly, but I would think less of people who are knee jerk snobs about things like margarine, canned soup as an ingredient or sitcoms. On the other hand, I don’t think I could relate to a stereotypical NASCAR or Sci-Fi fan.
This topic depends on what the definition of “crossing someone off your list” means. Does it mean you wouldn’t get romantically involved with them, or simply blow off any social interaction at all?
I’m sure I could maintain a casual friendship with someone who liked to listen to Yanni and never picked up a newspaper. Those things alone don’t make you an evil person. But does that mean I want to spend the rest of my life living with you? Probably not.
Not to be a bastard, but after white ink’s last post i have to add, people who manage to work into absolutely every conversation how they do not own a TV. 
Also on my list:
Likes:
Comedy movies starring animals
NASCAR
Michael Bolton, Celenie Dion and their ilk.
Dislikes:
Nothing really, I don’t think my taste is so special that i can’t deal with people not liking what i like
I instinctively write off any and all people who express a taste for devouring human flesh. Go ahead, call me narrow-minded.
Oh, yeah, and people who like to eat their boogers. It’s just a real turn-off for me.
I couldn’t be friends with someone who told jokes about handicapped people. And what fruitbat said about all that astrology/psychic/new age garbage.
Picky eaters are flat out. So are non-readers and people who don’t like to travel, except for the briefest of flings.
I can’t think of too many likes that I would consider a total deal-breaker, apart from being a member of the Ku Klux Klan or something.
I don’t immediately cross the following people off, but I do raise an eyebrow at:
- people that send chain mails or “this poor kid is dying” emails
- anyone whose favorite music involves Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. To go along with that: Anyone who says the best concert they’ve ever seen is the Backstreet Boys or their ilk.
- Smokers
- People that take stock in horoscopes
- People that don’t eat mushrooms because it’s a fungus. It’s fine if you just plain don’t like them, but don’t be prejudice towards the differentially reproductive. Love the spores!
- Girls that go out of their way not to be associated with feminism.
I probably won’t be a very good friend to you if you say you love to read, but never do. If you love or are impressed too much by money. If you let alcohol/drugs run your life (not that I don’t over-indulge occasionally, I just can’t see making it a lifestyle). If you aren’t interested in music/art. If you are a racist, sexist, homophobe, etc. (cannibal/booger-eater/)
Nothing is an absolute write off, but anyone who does not like animals will get my goat.
Ditto here, pal.
The other big thing that turns me off is when people are completely ignorant of how the economy works, think that “the corporations” are evil and are ruining the world, and all that jazz.
People who turn acronyms into words, e.g. “TeeVee” instead of TV, “deejay” instead of DJ, “emcee” instead of MC.
Those letters stand for something! Whenever I see one writen phonetically like that I have to wonder if the person who wrote it knows what the letters stand for.
I don’t immediately write anyone off…but lets just say that “it’s gonna be an uphill battle for them” if they:
-Own Yanni/John Tesch CDs and ditto on the whole cosmic crystal stuff
-Listen to Dr. Laura (and think she’s helping people by making fun of them on National Radio)
-Blindly follow their political party in spite of their personal beliefs that differ
-Don’t like children
-Are massively fat…not kinda of fat…but need a wheelchair/dolly/forklift to get around fat
-Have no opinion/backbone
-Are bible thumpers who try and recruit others to be bible thumpers
-Are so pro-union that they say things like…“I won’t shop there because their retail workers are not union”
-Are bandwagon fans to winning sports teams
-Don’t listen/interrupt others
-Quote stupid lines from self-help and chicken soup books
On the other side…I don’t immediately bond with someone because of their likes…but these things can’t hurt:
-Love/are good with children
-Like Seinfeld
-Can quote meaningless lines from classic movies…e.g. “fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son”
-Passionate about cuisine/wine/dining, etc.
-Enjoy reading
-Think the NBA sucks today compared to what it used to be
-Are sick and tired of US political partisan jackasses (on both sides) who spin everything into “your party is wrong, my party is right”
-Enjoy The Straight Dope Message Board!!!
A person passionate about nothing.
You must have a dream!
I have a hard time respecting people who say they don’t like to read. You don’t have to have four or five books going at the same time like I do, but pick up a book once in a while at least. And while I may have used to be a Grisham snob, these days any book at all is an improvement over none.
Well, except for the Left Behind things. And Chicken Soup for the TV Zombie. Those rate the same as Us Weekly and the Enquirer for me.
Can’t stand people who still believe “The South shall rise again” and all that jive. Sure it is, pal.
People who put their automobile, and various modifications thereof, before most everything else. I mean, I like my car to look nice and all but, come on people. You don’t need an aluminum spoiler and a superturbo intake valve or whatever the hell you’re talking about, plus I tuned you out 20 minutes ago so you might as well stop talking.
Those are the only two I can think of. Oh, and people who brag about shooting cats. I hear that more often than I should. Animal hater is a no-no as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been known to do some hunting myself, but there’s a line between hunting and hating.
I immediately write off anyone who’s too quick to write off others.
I’m reminded of the “Calvin and Hobbes” where Calvin is making a list titled “A Million Things That Bug Me.”
HOBBES: How about “excessively negative people”?
CALVIN: Yeah, that’s a good one!. . . . HEY!
I always want to ask them: “Rise and do what, exactly?”
My instant write-offs:
– Non-readers.
– Anyone who disparages education.
– Anyone who thinks that because animals aren’t sentient, they don’t feel pain.
– People who are irresponsible with their children.
– People who need to have the latest, most expensive status symbol.
– People who don’t flush.
There is a joke you guys may know:
Q: What is the definition of 668?
A: The neighbor of The Beast.
That is my litmus test. If folks don’t find that funny, I will walk away.
The biggest things that make me tune someone out/are major turn-offs are:
Elitist people- specifically the crowd that looks at me like I’m somehow contemptible because I like certain foods, don’t like NPR and don’t particularly like indie films, alternative music or “real” literature. I’m hardly uneducated or dim however; my tastes just don’t run to the pretentious/faux intellectual.
Pretentious people- I’m not fond of people who think just because they or their husband makes several hundred grand a year that they’re somehow the arbiters of taste and style, in spite of the fact that their parents were factory workers.
Sanctimonious people. I really have a hard time dealing with “holier-than-thou” people, or even worse, people who put on that act for church events, then go out and have a beer/go to a strip joint with the rest of us. If you’re going to do something, do it and be unashamed. Otherwise, don’t do it in the first place.