What phrases or topics immediately shut down your interest in a conversation?

[RUINER ACTUAL]

I can't stand when people talk about people. I don't care what you think of someone. Especially when I don't know the person I'm talking to very well, or I have no idea who they're talking about. I also don't care when people start talking about their jobs. You have a shitty job, I have a shitty job, we don't have to trade notes.

I like my conversations to be intellectually stimulating in some manner.

 

[disgruntledgamer]

My brain also shuts down when people start talking about politics, and there was a lot of that this week past. My care-o-meter was stuck at -30. Anyway, the phrases that really stick out and ruin a conversation for me are;

"ALL rich people..."
"ALL men..."
"ALL women..."

And then there's the complete opposite of that;

"Am I the only ONE..."
"I'm probably ONE of a few..."

Not ALL people are the same, and no ONE person is that special. I hear things like this constantly, and it makes me sad.

Except politics do actually matter, it may be a crappy choice between a A$$hat and douchebag but they do matter.

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

Anything related at all to...
Sports.
Most reality TV
Pop music
Or certain people who I generally don't like.

 

[Smeggs]

Like if you hear them, you just don't care anymore and start going "a-huh" every few seconds to not be rude.

For me, it's usually politics. I just don't care about politics, and even if I did, I still wouldn't want to talk about it because you'll either be reiterating the same old talking points I agree with already, or the same old talking points I don't agree with at all. Either way, I'm not listening anymore until the subject changes.

Heavy cynicism of almost anything also shuts down my care-center. If I start hearing the phrase "lost my faith in humanity" or something like it, I can't help but think of you as a sad-sack who blames his/her entire species for his/her own misfortunes. Grow up, chump, and get over it. When you do, we can have a meaningful conversation again.

Extremely racist remarks. The minute someone goes off on "All them dirty-" I just don't even want to talk anymore.

Then there's religion arguments. There's no point to them, neither side is going to budge, so if they just stop telling me to accept Geezus, I'll stop arguing. It's as simple as not talking about it. Politics also belongs here, considering how ridiculously people in America still use religion to guide their votes.

Then there are the people who just come off as lazy, but paint the picture like they're so put upon.
"Man, I've had to work every Saturday for the past month, I'm sick of it."
"So? I've been working all weekend for the past three months."
"Yeah, but I got shit to do, man, and I haven't been able to hang with my friends in weeks."
"What the hell do you do on the days you're not working?"
"Sleep."
"Gee, that must be nice while I'm off at college."

 

[Darken12]

The mention of breasts or cleavage makes my eyes roll and my interest drift away like a leaf downstream.

To be honest, there are a lot of stuff that cause that effect on me, but they've been mentioned before in the thread, and this one seemed like one that hadn't been brought up yet.

 

[Marter]

If your post actually contains logical fallacies, pointing them out should be the least objectionable thing one can do.

I don't get this, what do you want people to do? Point out the exact same flaw in reasoning without mentioning the name of the fallacy that describes it? Or simply ignore logic gaps (but why stop there? What about being counter-factual?) entirely, and address your post as if, basically, your post contains flawless reasoning?

To quote myself from earlier in the thread, I'm not talking about conversations I'm in.

"I'm talking about when I'm reading or listening to a conversation I'm not participating in. Conversations just degenerate from there, I find, so I move on as soon as I see something like this mentioned."

 

[Marter]

Welp. If you think they degenerate from having an injection of logic, I don't think they were going anywhere anyway.

I think it has more to do with the personnel involved, but that might be true.

 

[Frankster]

snip

Yeh you got my predicament bang on, guess its more common then i thought xD

Ill consider what you say in the future when browsing topics where i have an opinion that goes against what most are presenting, but will nonetheless try not to get bogged down in a discussion unless the other poster is somewhat pleasant to discuss with. I dont mind being proven wrong or w/e, its the whole treating debates as a competition thing i struggle with.

 

[karcentric]

I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but if something bores or shut down my interest as you put it, I straight out say so. It might be rude and offend the person but I'd rather concentrate my efforts on something I care about.

 

[darkfox85]

snip

Yeh you got my predicament bang on, guess its more common then i thought xD

Ill consider what you say in the future when browsing topics where i have an opinion that goes against what most are presenting, but will nonetheless try not to get bogged down in a discussion unless the other poster is somewhat pleasant to discuss with. I dont mind being proven wrong or w/e, its the whole treating debates as a competition thing i struggle with.

A good and civil debate is nearly impossible offline let alone online. Still, I?ve been pleasantly surprised once or twice.

Around here though? It?s been tough. This community can be really fucking scathing when it wants to be. Good thing I?m a mental masochist.

 

[TKretts3]

"As your elder..."
Well actually, replace elder with anything.

Another one is, "I'm not racist/sexist/homophobic, I have a friend whose black/a woman/LGBT!" I'm sure you probably do have have had one, but that's still really damn racist/sexist/homophobic.

"You have to do it, it's the right thing to do/for the good of society!" I usually hang up or walk away at this point...

 

[Traun]

Sexism/Feminism/Racism - I've never had a good conversation on the topic, it always has been individuals who try to guilt me about things I've never done, refuse a discussion on the topic, instead of opting for a circle-jerk and usually being racist/sexist themselves by going "You're a white male, your opinion doesn't matter."

 

[VoidWanderer]

When you point out a small point of contention in someone's arguement, and the person who was talking, doesn't even acknowledge you said anything.

 

[Jenvas1306]

I hope you friend ends up where black males "stereotipically" end up . Shot or in jail . I'm not racist but...

Well, I guess that IS where the stereotyping actually does stop with him. He's a super studious engineering student. His personality reminds me of Cee-Lo Green.

Poor krazykidd, gettin' all pissy about people making observations about reality. That makes just as much sense as getting mad at someone for saying "I'm no meteorologist, but the weather sure feels humid today.", or "I'm no librarian, but that encyclopedia sure has an awful lot of pages."


*shrug*

Gods forbid people be allowed to make observational statements without some sort of judgement attached to those statements...

Getting mad about that makes as much sense someone saying to me that white people can't dance, or gamers love Halo.
I can't dance. I hate Halo. Should I be offended by one of those? No. A lot of white people can't dance, and a lot of gamers like Halo...
I'm not sure how either of these statements or any analogous statement is supposed to offended me.

Maybe if it was something more extreme than liking chicken or not being able to dance. Something that sounds like an accusation..."I'm not racist, but Germans sure seem to hate Jews." (FTR, I'm half German, and that's a bunch of nonsense.)
THAT I could understand being upset by.
That's almost like character assassination by association, and is provocative enough to make people overlook that it doesn't say "All Germans" or even "Most Germans", because it's tied to a huge historical event where Germans and Jews...uh....yea. Bad stuff.

So far as I know, there wasn't ever an epidemic of black people descending on the world's fried chicken like a plague of locusts to set the precedent that a love of chicken should be assumed as a universal trait, and so I can't see people assuming an entire race would all automatically love the same thing...because that's not how people work....
Likewise, I think it's pretty absurd to believe that anyone believes "white people can't dance" or "gamers love Halo" would be universally true traits, because there hasn't been any sort of overwhelming, seemingly exceptionless indicator that something that outlandish might be true.

.
People get offended by the silliest stuff...

Funny thing is, I am german, and live in germany. you dont have many chances to feel anything towards jews here, for a reason you dont find them here often. my russian boyfriend has a rather low opinion of them, but i cant argue about that, cause of lack of experiance...

 

[Jenvas1306]

Im actually interessted in sort of everything going on on this world, but cars or sports are sure topics that dont interesst me. same goes for stupid gossip, drama and which celebrity marries/divorces/eats/etc another celebrity

 

[dvd_72]

Am I the only one who thinks that "am I the only one..." doesn't litterally mean "am I the only one...?" and is actually a way to put an idea out there in an effort to find people who feel as you do?

Because really guys, not everything people say is to be taken literally.

 

[Vegosiux]

Am I the only one who thinks that "am I the only one..." doesn't litterally mean "am I the only one...?" and is actually a way to put an idea out there in an effort to find people who feel as you do?

Because really guys, not everything people say is to be taken literally.

Am I the only one who thinks that "You're not the only one..." doesn't literally mean "You're not the only one..." and is actually a way to say that just because nobody is the only one, I still don't have to agree with the idea?

Also, yes, that old phrase "want to have your cake and eat it", that just irritates me. I mean, eating is what a cake is for!

 

[dumbseizure]

the one that makes my brain go into auto-pilot is when someone just looks at me and goes "you know what?"

No, I don't know what, I am not a fucking mind reader. If I knew what you were going to say when you said "you know what?" I probably would have punched you in the face already because 99% of what people say after "you know what?" Is something stupid and arbitrarily pointless.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I also agree on the whole "As a *insert profession here*" Thing...

I allow this one if the profession is relevant to the point being made.

E.g. "As a doctor, I'd advise you not to drink your volume in whiskey."
Or "As a lawyer, I can say that argument probably wouldn't stand up in court."

 

[MetalMagpie]

Am I the only one who thinks that "am I the only one..." doesn't litterally mean "am I the only one...?" and is actually a way to put an idea out there in an effort to find people who feel as you do?

Because really guys, not everything people say is to be taken literally.

Exactly. It's like the use of the word "literally" for emphasis rather than to mean something should be taken exactly at face value. It's not "destroying English" or any other twaddle people come up with. Languages evolve. Word meanings drift. This is all OK!

My favourite example: Before the arrival of the Normans in Britain, the word "apple" referred to any fruit. It was only once the French word "fruit" arrived that "apple" was restricted to a particular type of fruit.

Similarly, common phrases develop to express ideas that may be different to the literal meaning of the words. If I say "there wasn't enough space in my hotel room to swing a cat", you wouldn't take that as a literal indication of the space. (How much space does it take to swing a cat, anyway?) It's a phrase to mean "not as much space as would be expected or that I wanted".