A tossup between sports and celebrities, though I’ll give the edge to celebrities for being slightly more irrelevant.
Cheesecake.
Nonono, got distracted. Um…yes, diet.
Children
Sport
Television
Sports and most conversations about work. I don’t mind talking to other ESL teachers, but most of my friends work in the finance/business sector, and when they start talking I end up lighting a cigarette and tuning out until the subject changes.
Then again, all ESL teachers ever talk about is teaching and students, so we probably sound just as boring to everyone else.
What you dreamed last night. People love to talk about their own, but completely tune out others’ dream stories. Because they’re boring.
(notable exception: if you had erotic dreams featuring me – then I’m all ears)
My husband’s co-workers drag us out at least once a month. They cannot fathom why we would rather spend our evenings at home, together, rather than in a loud, crowded bar.
I always know I’m in for a numbingly boring evening. They talk for hours about the minutae of office politics-- who hates who and why, and how so-and-so has tried to sabotage a project to make such-and-such look bad, and what repercussions the new office romance might have because the new girlfriend works with Jenny who HATES Carla because she heard Carla tell Becky what Rhonda said about her. I swear to Christ, it’s like listening to a gaggle of highschool girls playing Popularity Politics.
And they work in an interesting place, too! It doesn’t have to be boring. They work in a prison, and god knows that can bring up a lot of interesting topics, but nooooo. I’ve tried on a couple of occasions to steer the conversation to more interesting topics-- the easy ones: current events, criminology, new law enforcement techniques, but they always manage to twist it back around to the petty playground bickering. “That reminds me of what I heard happened between Debra and Sam last week . . .”
Now and then they will digress to what after-school activities their children are doing, bills and what yardwork needs to be done, but it always quickly winds back into gossip and backbiting.
When I lived in New York, it was “blah blah blah Yanks blah blah blah Mets blah blah blah Rangers blah blah blah Whatever.” Now, in Cleveland, it’s “blah blah blah Tribe blah blah blah Cavs blah blah blah Browns blah blah blah Whatever.” It sounds like these people just wind themselves up and chatter on and on, ad nauseum.
And then there are the people who go through life complaining about the people they’ve chosen to spend the rest of their lives with. Hey, if all you’ve got are complaints, do something about it. Why should I be interested in every little problem of your relationship?
Yet another for sports. There’s a guy I work with who, nearly every time I see him, opens the conversation by asking me what I think of the whatever might have been the leading sports-related story for that morning. I always answer with something along the lines of: “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s what I think of it”, but he persists anyway. Nice enough guy, but jeez, take a hint, already.
I work in an office of women. Don’t ask me how that happened – we only have one male working there, and he’s not there half the time. So we don’t talk about sports.
Children. I, like teela brown have no children. I don’t especially like children (not hate, just have always been ambivalent about them). Yet conversations about children bore me to tears. Talk about your pets, and I’ll listen, but tell me about what Festus and Twiddles did that was SOOOO cute, and I’ll tune out.
Also, a couple people in the office have succeeded in boring me with the endless rehash of what the Company has done wrong since we were bought, and what we should do to fix things. I’ve heard it all, and at first joined in with my observations, but it is (I think) past the point of fixing. It’s a matter of WHEN they’ll put us out of our misery, not IF, unless something really dramatic happens. I’ve become very Zen about the situation and have issued the statement, “I will not complain about things I can’t change, or listen to wild speculation,” and have tuned out for my mental health’s sake.
I’m a poker dealer. If I hear one more bad beat that isn’t really a bad beat story, I’ll…
Golf, egads, it’s all the guys at work talk about. It’s the only topic that my boss deems worthy of discussing (poker room be damned). Golf, greens, courses, tournaments, balls, putters, drivers, grass. SHADDUP ALREADY!
My mind is going numb of the mindless drivel I hear every day. How sad is it, when someone says “Hi, How are you?” That the answer is “down $50” or “up $50.” Really? That qualifies how you are? How very, very sad. They don’t read the news, watch movies or tv, or read books. They play poker 12 hours a day. We have to throw them out when hurricanes are threatening to hit, we have to force them out at 6pm Christmas eve. They complain we are closed on Christmas. And did you hear? The indians are going high stakes? Been on X boat lately? Did you hear the guy that won the jackpot? I just went on vacation to Vegas.
No, I’m not shocked your pocket aces got outdrawn by a gut shot straight on the river because you checked all the way through. Really. I’m not.
I’m fine with sports talk, but fantasy sports? Dear lord. I have heard enough about that just from my little brother for several lifetimes.
The weather is usually a dull topic. If the weather is nice, everybody knows it; there’s nothing to talk about unless it’s apocalyptically weird, and in that case I’d think people would not want to discuss it. I found myself talking about the (nice) weather at a party last week - I didn’t know anybody there except the hostess, and they all knew each other - and when I realized what I was doing I almost punched myself in the face.
Celebrity gossip is awful, and if I may name names, I’m especially sick of hearing about the Cruises and Spearses and Hiltonses. I don’t care if the chat is ironic. Unless you can crack me up on the subject the way some SDMB threads can, I don’t want to hear about them at all.
Of course the simple amswer is: “Anything people are talking about that I’m not interested in/know nothing about”.
I suspect that is why “sports” would be the most popular answer in the SDMB.
Every time someone tries to tell me that the weather is nice I always want to reply with “who gives a shit?” Though I know most people are probably just making small talk and would probably get offended. I can’t really expect people to put too much effort into opening a conversation.
sports… yeah. I guess I can see where that would be interesting if you’re into it, though.
For me, boyfriends. This may make me the worst friend in the world, but I hate hearing about girls’ boyfriends… how he’s wonderful, how she’s not sure he really likes her, then how he did this which annoyed her and and how he does that which she’s just not sure about, and finally the one that goes on for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages… how he’s wronged her and how he doesn’t deserve her, how he owes her so much, how he’s crushed her as a person, blahdeblah etc.
Also, alcohol and gambling. Those are the two most common topics at work (in English anyway. I suppose they talk about other things in Chinese, Thai, and Spanish.) and it bores me to tears.
and video games! one of my best friends is obsessed with video games… to the point where he writes fanfiction and belongs to a bunch of video game forums. He expects me to remember allt he names and characters and ins and outs of the games, as well as all the stuff that goes on with the creators. Plus he sends me lots of parodies and videos and things that are only funny if you get it. I don’t. (I try. He is my friend, but… bleh.)
And I know this is bad… but I am not at all interested in discussions of politics or economics or any of that. I understand it, but I don’t really want to hear about it.
I actually will participate in talk about diet (I actually have a lot to say about it if people want to know) the weather (come on- it’s something EVERYONE can relate to, and sometimes it leads the way to more actually interesting conversation) And I love hearing about people’s kids.
Other people.
I’ll cast my vote for sports as well. I used to work with a bunch of sports nuts. Every time they’d bring up so-and-so making a touchdown in the third quarter, or whatever, I’d immediately tune them out.
I also don’t get involved in political discussions. Another group of co-workers I once had would get into daily political debates. At least I could put on some headphones and listen to music to get away from having to listen to these guys rant and argue with each other about Bush, the economy, Iraq, etc.
Dream conversations are wild cards. I heard a friend’s story about how he was mysteriously chased by a horde of samurai. It was quite entertaining.
My worst topics are following:
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“Oh man, I got such a hangover. Last night was rough!”. The only thing that makes less sense than getting wasted is being proud of it.
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Sports. I don’t know most of the players or the rules. I’m not interested.
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Exercise/the gym. “The gym” is a very mythical place. It’s obviously great to be there and you can do all kinds of things to all the different muscles in your body. Some people start by just trying out but then they begin going there several times a week. This fact is repeated often by different people and they all think it has never been said before.
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Bad mainstream popular culture. It’s stricky, 'cause it is one of the subject that I do enjoy talking about, but only if I’m on somewhat the same level as the one I’m talking to. If somebody in class starts talking to about me how fantasticthe Return of the king was and how she got all the deluxe DVDs, she forces me to either be elitistic and dis her, or be untrue to myself and agree with her. Either way I lose.
My favorite is the background stories on the fictional characters you’ve created in your life. Typical among Festies (Renaissance Festival performancers), SCAers, and Role Playing Gamers. GAAAHHHH!!! Your real life is boring enough. I don’t need to know that you are the second daughter of the Duke of Maroon whose mother was burned for witchcraft when you were ten and whose four siblings died of the plague shortly after, leaving you the heiress of the Dutchy and that you are madly in love with a commoner, but your father won’t consent and…
I should note that this is not widely popular outside of certain circles…but if you travel in those circles, you know exactly what I am talking about.
I knew exactly what you were talking about. It’s okay. 