Shut the (*&@# up!

[salinen]

For some time now, I've been taking a mental note of how certain people I know, and the phenomenon that they almost never stop talking. Maybe it never occurred to me to notice before. Or, that these people have changed.

But it's more than just incessantly talking. They also have no desire to listen. I have a difficult time just getting clarification on what they're saying. Something else that I've noticed by some is that they end the sentence with "ummmm" while they think about what they will say next. I think this is so they will not be interrupted. Mostly, they dominate a conversation by over-voluming anyone who tries to interject. It would even be difficult to completely agree with what they were saying because they'd cut you off.

Is this a result of the media influencing speech behavior? Or are people becoming ego monsters. I actually don't care that much because what I have to say on any subject, I already know. So if someone is so forceful that they cannot listen, I just listen. It becomes a one-way conversation with me as the backdrop.

People will say, well, why do you bother with people like that. And I say, it seems like almost everyone is doing it. Anyone here know people like this?

[grasswire]

1. a culture of narcissism

perhaps that explains it.

[salinen]

5. Could be

But in some weird way, it looks like they fear quiet.

[JeanGrey]

2. God yes. Someone I used to work with, unfortunately in

the next cubicle. She TALKED AND TALKED AND TALKED all day everyday about everything and never shut up!!!! There were times I wanted to strangle her!

[Possumpoint]

3. I Don't Stand For It

In person, I walk away. When it happens on TV, I change channels. Life is too short to put up with impolite people.

[ZombieHorde]

4. No one comes to mind at this moment. nt

[omega minimo]

6. Listening is an active thing

[rrneck]

7. Too many people

have confused communication with broadcasting.

[stillcool]

8. It's hard to figure whether people take their cues..

from the television and the politicians, or if television and the politicians take their cues from the people. It's almost a mirror image. Knowledge is no requirement, and actually hinders the 'discussion'. There's about as much chance for an exchange of ideas, as there is in a drive-by shooting.

[Mike 03]

9. Yes, there are different motives for this. I don't think people who speak incessantly

are narcissists. It's become fashionable to call everyone who stands out a narcissist, and I think that diagnosis needs to be reconsidered.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. I've encountered them,

and almost always do what an old friend used to do when he ran into blowhards: he'd nod and look very interested and sincere and periodically offer a comment.

"You're wrong," he say, and nod.

"You're wrong."

"Yep, you're wrong."

"Boy, are you wrong."

Hasn't failed me yet, but it's always a relief to get away from them.

Your idea that TV is someone influencing these people seems seductive, but I think it's more a symptom of any number of things - social awkwardness that causes them to chatter incessantly; loneliness, which I've seen in a lot of old people, so I'm a whole lot more patient when this happens; or the total ego-driven asshole who gets my full "You're wrong" treatment.

What's really fun is to stay quiet while they prattle on and when they suddenly run out of breath or something to say, the silence is really quite profound. That's my favorite part .....................

[DJ13]

11. Toomuchwatching Japaneseanime wherethelipsmovetoomuch toofittheEnglishlanguage?

:shrug:

[Fuzz]

12. My sister has always been like that, more so now and the whole entire family

she married into.

[patrice]

13. Yep. This behavior does seem to be more widely spread than I remember it being.

I think things are falling apart and more people are discovering their voices and many of them are very in-experienced in the self-disciplines and manners of social discourse.

The only solution: all involved engage is peaceful step-wise approximations of agreed upon standards derived from The Golden Rule. In effect, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours".

[dweller]

14. There is great power in silence

utilize it.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
A. Lincoln


dp

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. OH yeah, I know some who never let me finish a sentence

.
.
.

They have to interrupt to FINISH the sentence for me, usually NOT what I was going to say.

So I just sorta skirt around having ANY conversation with people like that,

because you can't reason or argue with them.

If I get "trapped" into a conversation - I just let the response slide and don't respond.

There are just TOO many people it seems that are so full of themselves that what others think doesn't matter . .

(sigh)

[lunatica]

16. Recently I actually had someone express surprise that I had listened to them

I repeated what he had said days earlier to someone else while in his presence and he was so surprised that he blurted out his surprise that someone had actually remembered what he said.

So don't worry. Some people actually listen and you're probably one of them. It's a good trait no matter how you use it, because sometimes you can make people eat their words.

[X_Digger]

17. I'm sorry, you were saying?

/duck and run

j/k!