# Shut up. Shut UP! SHUT UP!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2001, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295 "2001-08-15T00:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/1 "2001-08-15T00:36:36Z")
I had to fly from San Diego to Sacramento after going to an orthodontic appointment in SD. I like flying, I like air travel, I like the airline I fly on (Southwest), but this time _ **I HATED** _ the two complete idiots sitting behind me. Ever known someone who won’t stop talking? That was these two, a hyper-perky 40ish bimbo of a corporate employee type and a Yuppie computer programmer with either enough manners or too few brain cells to notice that said woman was talking absolute drivel. Said drivel consisted of 90+ minutes of talking about makeup and her job at a makeup firm and other makeup related idiocy. And all this in a voice loud enough to startle Heller Keller. Look you two, I don’t mind you having a conversation on an airplane, but when you talk from takeoff to the time I leave the plane about nothing but the Wonderful Fucking World of Makeup, do it in a voice that won’t drown out both _my headphones_ and the _fucking jet engines!_ Goddammit, you don’t know how close I came to grabbing the inflight magazine and beating you two until the only cosmetics you’ll come from that funeral home on _Six Feet Under_!! I’m trying desperately to read my Roddy Doyle book and you two babble about fucking Revlon and how much eyeshadow Kim fucking Smithers or whoever uses on their midmorning suicide inducingly perky local talk show. SHUT UP! I’ve had relationships that were shorter than your conversation! Nobody except you two fucking care about any of what you are saying dammit! Be thankful nobody complained about you, because I was about to when I realized it wouldn’t do any fucking good because you’re too stupid to realize that someone in a 90 mile radius might not care about the intricate process of applying lipstick to someone with a cleft lip!!! FUCK YOU! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/2 "2001-08-15T00:38:50Z")
Uh…the software will word wrap for you. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/3 "2001-08-15T01:01:15Z")
Two suggestions: 1. They sell liquor on airplanes in wonderful, tiny little single servings. One ounce of bliss in a bottle. 2. Ear plugs are your best friend. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/4 "2001-08-15T02:26:37Z")
I gotta meet this Heller Keller ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/5 "2001-08-15T02:36:23Z")
Subject matter good, hatred good, excellent rant, insufficent use of “Fuck” “Fucking” et al., possibly because the ranter is a decent human being. With a little work and more frustration, could be olympic material. b. ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/6 "2001-08-15T05:33:06Z")
Sorry, I tried to read the rant, but I cant process information presented in that bizarre manner. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/7 "2001-08-15T06:13:16Z")
Which Roddy Doyle book? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/8 "2001-08-15T06:16:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ballybay \* > \*\*Which Roddy Doyle book? \*\* _The Commitments_, actually. And those of you who snipe at my posting style are advised to stuff it. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/9 "2001-08-15T06:28:48Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve had relationships that were shorter than your > conversation Come’on guys that has got to be one of the better lines, that I’ve read lately. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/10 "2001-08-15T06:49:38Z")
Look at the bright side: At least they were behind you, instead of on either side of you. There’s a joyride, and if they both happen to be 300 lbs, as they were in my tale of woe, well, let’s just say that had we made an emergency water landing it wouldn’t have been the worst part of the trip. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/11 "2001-08-15T07:26:43Z")
I got stuck next to some missionaries once, on a flight from Sydney to LA. Preliminary investigations were made to see if I could be converted. I was feeling a bit cranky, and told them God doesn’t exist. Instead of an argument, they got all sulky and shut up. Frozen silence for 20 hours trans-Pacific is quite nice, and they couldn’t bring themselves to ask me to let them through to get to the toilet, which cheered me up no end. ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/12 "2001-08-16T06:43:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kamandi \* > \*\*2. Ear plugs are your best friend. \*\* Sorry, **'Mandi** mate, but I’ve **never** found earplugs to work at cancelling out annoying noise. Sure, the noise is filtered or dampened down, but never removed. I’m told it’s [Frick]something to do with the sound waves and the body and the hearing through our bodies, and the sinus cavities [/Frick] which all sounds perfectly logical to me. I recently suffered through a mere three hour flight with non-stop talker. She was a woman across the aisle from me who was talking to her seat companion in an earnest slightly upset manner. Or so I thought. I couldnt make out a word she was saying, as her head was turned away from me, but the urgent, somewhat distressed tone of voice carried VERY well, and I was conscious of her. She’ll find some release through talking it out, I thought to myself. Except, of course, she didn’t. That earnest, confidential tone went on and on and on. Her companion hardly got to speak, because she dominated the conversation, earnestly, passionately, unceasingly. After two hours I was ready to kill her. I tried every way I could to not focus on her but on other things, to do relaxing exercises, to doze, listen to the headphones. But that buzz of distressed concern kept going and going and going. Why is it men so seldom want to talk that hard for so long a time, to so little purpose? I mean we all know men gasbag, burt they also can sit in companionable silence for very long periods. There was, I realised no problem. It was just a trick of the voice, probably developed to keep people attentive. Worked didn’t it? I like quiet people, and I like people who stay home when I’m out. Redboss ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/13 "2001-08-16T13:39:04Z")
I can totally relate to the OP. I am a talker- non-stop at times, but I do NOT do it around groups of people, on airplanes, in theaters, or at restaurants. Although I love to talk, I don’t think my love of gabbing outweighs other people’s right to some peace and fucking quiet! The first time I ever flew, I was whiteknuckle terrified, and I was all alone. These two assclown businessmen talked the whole goddamned time (and voices really carry on a plane, I discovered), and it about drove me to distraction. How the hell do people chatter so much, so loudly and have no idea that they’re driving people crazy with it?? Zette ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/14 "2001-08-16T14:18:50Z")
Redboss said: > [@](#): > > I like quiet people, and I like people who stay home when I’m out. Amen, brother. I’ve decided I’m just a grumpy curmudgeon. At 27. I was in a conversation yesterday with someone about how I’m completely lacking a maternal instinct. One person said, “Oh, you don’t like kids?” The other person wittily replied, “She doesn’t like people.” I tried to deny it, I really did. But sometimes that’s such a damn accurate statement. And loud people are nearing the top of the list! Especially in a cramped area such as an airplane - you can’t get away! ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/15 "2001-08-16T14:32:48Z")
That just reminded me of a bus trip my husband and I took to a football game. After much drinking and such during the day, the drunks piled back onto the bus for the trip home. (Three of them had been ejected from the stadium early for being disorderly and drunk) It was dark out, people are trying to sleep a little or watch the in-flight (in-bus? in-transit?) movie, and this drunken pusbucket is in the back carrying on. And on. And on. I was getting seriously torqued off, and generally I don’t have a problem saying “Hey- keep it down!”, but we were with some of my husbands co-workers and I didn’t want to embarass him. Little did I know… After about an hour of this asshole singing, yelling, slurring and swearing, my husband (who is a scary looking individual, especially when he’s good and pissed) stood up in the aisle, pointed his finger at the guy and said **"HEY! Shut the fuck up already! No one here wants to hear it, you stinking drunk! Any more out of you, and I’m coming back there!"** He sat down and we were all kind of speechless. (He very rarely loses it, but when he does, it’s a damned scary sight) The guy started protesting, but his friends shut him up fast. So I heard him back there grumbling a bit and his friends saying “Dude- that guy is gonna kick the shit out of us. Shut up!” and all of a sudden the drunk says (in a classic 4 year old pouty voice) “I’m never coming on this bus trip again!!!” I started the wild applause, and it carried all the way up to the front, complete with whistles and hoots. He was mortified (as he should have been) and didn’t utter a sound the rest of the trip home. After he got off at the first stop, the trip organizer apologized and said he would no longer be welcome on his bus trips. He later thanked my husband for speaking up. (Which actually the organizer should have done) Zette ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/16 "2001-08-16T17:45:00Z")
I had to deal with a non-stop talker once, but it wasn’t during any travel. It was at work. I swear this woman loved to talk just to hear herself talk. We would be in a meeting, then the facilitator would ask if there were any questions, and this woman would just pipe right up and start gabbing about anything and everything… and it didn’t have to relate to the meeting either. We would all cringe when she would start up. She finally was fired because she would pawn off her work on others so she could go socialize. ---
**Author:** ![Tokiwoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@Tokiwoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tokiwoki)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-shut-up-shut-up/76295/17 "2001-08-16T21:47:23Z")
I had to sit next to a guy who was graduate from a school I absolutely hate. I tried to be nice about it. Then he started hitting on me. He offered over and over again to buy me a drink, although he knew I wasn’t even of legal age to drink. I was 12 years younger than him and he was married. In fact, he was on his way to meet his wife. What a sick, sad man.