# What's the longest you've gone w/o speaking to another person? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787 "2004-12-02T22:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/21 "2004-12-04T02:35:07Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I’ve had repeated two and three day periods over the course of the past (almost) month while living alone and being homebound. Maybe I can try for four and five day windows over the next month. > > I’m not as anti-social as I used to think I was but I do like the alone time to an extent. It’s quite refreshing. If I don’t call my parents tomorrow, I can make it four and a half days that I’ve not talked to anyone or heard more than a muffled human voice other than my own. I’m thinking I’ll do that just to have a definite answer. ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/22 "2004-12-04T02:38:29Z")
There’s this blind man who goes to my church and he hates me. Well, maybe not me, but he hates the organ and I am the organist. He will say to the pastor as he leaves the church, “Why does it have to be so loud?” or “It blares.” However, when I play something softly beautiful he never says, “That was really pretty.” So I never speak to him because he never knows I am nearby. What would I say to him? “Hi, I’m the organist, and I hear you despise my life’s work and freely say so.” Geez, I’m not a nice person at all. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/23 "2004-12-04T02:39:40Z")
Oh my God! I didn’t even answer the question right! Because I didn’t really read it! I’m sorry. Please ignore me in the future. ---
**Author:** ![kittenlm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ce7236/32.png) [@kittenlm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenlm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/24 "2004-12-04T04:06:46Z")
I’m afraid, not very long. It seems I am alot like **down by law** ’s girlfriend. I LOVE to talk and poor \*\*Hal \*\* has to put up with it. Really, I’m not kidding…I never shut up. I even tell him that I won’t talk to him and he just laughs and says “I give it 5 minutes”…and he’s always right :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/25 "2004-12-04T04:12:20Z")
> [@Lillith Fair](#): > > Oh my God! I didn’t even answer the question right! Because I didn’t really read it! > > I’m sorry. > > Please ignore me in the future. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/26 "2004-12-04T04:14:40Z")
About two weeks maybe twenty years ago It was a really bad situation. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/27 "2004-12-04T07:41:51Z")
10 months. The first 9 months and bit over I was in a coma, and it took close to a month after I came out of it for my speech to return. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Kallick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c4cdca/32.png) [@J\_Kallick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Kallick)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/28 "2004-12-04T08:26:32Z")
One of my oddest professors in college strongly advocated taking a 10-12 day break from speaking every few months. He claimed that, after the tough first three days, thoughts start to crystallize in your head and take on a clarity to which constant interaction runs counterintuitive. Anyway, I have school and a job, so it’s not that easy to come up with a 2-week block to not speak… but he was one of the smartest individuals I’ve ever come across, so I really want to take his advice and try it… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/29 "2004-12-04T11:41:08Z")
The longest for me has been 4 or 5 days. ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/30 "2004-12-04T11:59:29Z")
That’d be a four day solo canoe trip, shortly before BabyFantsyPants was born. Although I did have same choice words for the snapping turtle that got too close while I was skinny dipping. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787/31 "2004-12-04T17:36:40Z")
My work schedule gives me every other week off, and, being a hermit, I’m positive there have been multiple times I’ve gone a whole week without speaking to another soul. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-gone-w-o-speaking-to-another-person/277787.md?page=1)