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

[Baron_Rouge]

"No offense, but *insert offensive sentence here*"

Seriously, it annoys me to no end!

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

It's just your opinion, no need to state such a thing.

Wait , added your profession SHOULD make their opinion more valid , assuming that the topic is somethinf related to said profession . I mean i rather have medical advice from a doctor than a carpenter ....

OT: Someone once told me : " If you want to stay friends with someone , avoid talking about religion and politics" . So i avoid those topics alltogether . Also , "i'm not racist but..." makes me lose all interest in the person. Periode . I have 0 tolerence for racism of any kind .

Dude..."I'm not racist, but" HAS legitimate applications.
I'm not racist, for instance, but sometimes you just have to comment on stuff like black people and their mysterious love of fried chicken.

I had a roommate named Denzel for a couple years. Most stereotypical black guy you can possible imagine, with the exception of his odd flamboyant personality. I KID YOU NOT, he kept our fridge stocked with orange soda, "purple drink" (which I did not know was a thing until then), and watermelon.... and the kitchen counter almost ALWAYS had an empty KFC bucket sitting on it. Dude woke up in the morning blaring gospel music, listened to rap during the day, and switched to R&B at night.
Some days I wonder if Denzel was just messing with us (his 2 white and 1 middle-eastern roommates), but there's no way someone would keep that up for 2 years, right?

In my Game Design class we were talking about having a party the last week of school. The professor was all "we could get some pizza!" the class-clown dude was like "HELL YEA, and we'll get some hookers and blow and PAAAAARTAY!"(completely joking, obviously), and then a black dude in the back of the class goes "Oh shit, man! Can we get some fried chicken up in here too?!"(he was dead serious) The whole class just missed a beat and then burst out laughing. Poor dude look confused for a minute til he realized what he'd said.

How do you explain that?

So, "I'm not racist, but dude...black people seem to love them some fried chicken."

Sometimes it's a legit phrase.

Thank you for doing the exact thing that annoys me so . I no longer consider you are able to contibute anything positive to my stay here at the escapists , and thus you shall go on my ignore list . Your friend is the exact reason i don't associate myself with most black males, they make us look bad . Yes , us . Not only did you manage to annoy me , but you managed to offend me at the same time . You're 2/2 , here have a cookie. I hope you friend ends up where black males "stereotipically" end up . Shot or in jail . I'm not racist but...

Hold on...what? This person, who you have never met, has a different personality to the one you deem acceptable and so you hope he gets shot? Or imprisoned? How could you wish for such a thing? Are you suggesting that people can't like things if stereotypes suggest that they should like them? Because that's just altering your tastes and personality based on popular opinion, which is ridiculous, especially when it's referring to something as inconsequential as food or drink preferences. Leaving aside the issue of racism, wishing someone get shot or imprisoned for having different tastes is just a dickish thing to do.

 

[smithy_2045]

Any time anyone uses a slippery slope argument, I instantly lose all respect for any opinions they hold.

 

[TheRocketeer]

This bears a bit of explanation, but online there sometimes comes a moment when two people are embroiled in an argument, one of them will be called out on genuinely missing the point, and they will, in response, explain what they thought the other had meant and why their counterargument still makes them right.

This is the warning of utter futility. Nothing offered beyond this point can make any difference. This complex, yet commonplace, event is indicative of a situation in which one or both sides is too bullheaded to give in when they know they're beat but too chickenshit to drop the fake smile to force an end one way or the other.

And as a mom and a soldier, this offends my religious beliefs.

 

[Aris Khandr]

This only applies to conversations online, but "walah". Seriously, whenever I see that, I want to reach through the internet and throttle the other person.

It's spelled "voila"! There isn't even a 'w' in the word!

I'm not sure why, but that complete butchery of spelling drives me mad.

 

[Twilight_guy]

"So I just..." Yeah, I don't care that much about you discovering what has usually been discussed a dozen times before.

Any question involving other people's opinions. Every possible opinion is held by someone somewhere. Just let it be, even if you think its wrong, please. (It never ends well).

Anything that involves a direct name parody from Yahtzee. I.e. something like 'ass creed'. It was funny in the review, it is funny in moderation, after the Yahtzee drones have brutally beat any shred of humor out of it through overuse, it needs to go away.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's not so much the phrases or topic, but the person uttering the phrases or topic that makes me zone out.

Unless ofcourse it's conspiracy theories. Then my brain takes the first shuttle to the other side of the universe.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Any mention of logical fallacies.

How about coming up with a real point, eh guys? ;p

Oh god this. I hate seeing an argument on these forums devolve into each person pointing out different logical fallacies in each others posts, it ruins good forum drama.

The phrase "let me demonstrate my point with an analogy" makes me hate myself for ever having tried it and realise that any subsequent post will simply be people pointing out tiny holes in it. After someone has used an analogy you should just bail.

 

[Arakasi]

Sport and alcohol.
Keep in mind that I live in Australia.

As for the other stuff in this thread, I find that those are some of the most interesting/funny things to listen to, who doesn't love to hear mad rambling?

 

[Texas Joker 52]

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.

Wow, you actually hit the mark on that first point for me. Honestly, I see politics as the most obtuse, generalized and usually ineffectual way of getting anything done. And really, whenever talk of politicians comes up, I just skip it. If its in the US, chances are good that they won't do anything of any real importance to me, and if its in another country, they simply won't affect me at all.

Though, I am glad that Australia will finally be getting a, what, an RA-18 rating if I remember correctly.

As for 'losing faith in humanity', lets face it, human nature kind of sucks, and people in the most general of terms are horrible. It's the individuals however that can be awesome, once you get to know them.

For me, its also the "I hate when *insert fandom here* topics pop up, stop posting them!" people that bug me. When they say that they can't avoid something, and that it is shoved in their face at every turn.

Of course, a lot of things tend to irk me in one way or another, so I just do what I can to ignore 'em and move on.

But, there is one thing that I have trouble ignoring: Horribly spelled and worded opening posts for a topic.

Even if I don't have trouble seeing the point you're trying to make, it is still hard to see past the English Language being completely butchered. I can easily forgive a typo or two, because hell, they happen to the best of us. But when they get some prevalent that misspellings almost outnumber properly spelled words, is when I have a problem.

Think of it this way: Your opening post is a first impression. If it's well worded and properly spelled, generally the response is a little better, though subject matter also depends. But, if you can't spell or type worth shit, that first impression is pretty damn poor. Seriously, embrace the Grammar Nazis. Despite the attitude some of us have, we are here to help improve grammar and spelling.

The English Language is a beautiful thing. Please, don't butcher it.

 

[Latinidiot]

Honestly, I look at the things people say here, and while I can agree with most of them, I also most of the time keep reading. The only thing that shuts me down is when the topic itself I don't like. If we're discussing, for example racism, and someone says the dreaded 'I am no racist but' I keep reading to see where it's going. It tends to be bad, but sometimes valid points are made.

 

[ABLb0y]

ANything to do with Football (Soccer for you Americans).

It's a group of shaved bears kicking a piece of leather into a giant net. Hardly the pinnacle of human achievement, not worth getting into fights about. And, no, I don't care how much you spent on players in Fifa 13, and how Fifa 13 is the best game ever despite the fact it's exactly the same as the twelve games before it, ok?

 

[Bestival]

Anything religious. I never force my atheist views on others. (or try really hard not to, anyway.) But as soon as someone starts this shit I'm out.
My only interest in such things are from a mythological point of view.

 

[Icehearted]

"I'm not a racist, but..."

Nothing ever good ever comes after that statement.

"As a mother, soldier, random asshole...etc"

Yeah that is nice, unless the conversation is specifically about something you have dealt with as being one of those things then it doesn't apply.

Essentially the two biggest ones I can think of. The first is especially touchy for me since I'm mixed race and have gotten it from many sides for often the most ridiculous statements, mostly regarding people of mixed ethnicity.

You're right, nothing good ever comes of that statement, even when people attempt, in sometimes very strange ways, to say something flattering in the process. A variation would be some kind of potentially flattering remark followed by pointing out race/gender ("gee he's pretty smart for a Mexican" or "she's good looking for a black chick"). My interest wilts when conversations go in these directions.

 

[krazykidd]

"No offense, but *insert offensive sentence here*"

Seriously, it annoys me to no end!

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

It's just your opinion, no need to state such a thing.

Wait , added your profession SHOULD make their opinion more valid , assuming that the topic is somethinf related to said profession . I mean i rather have medical advice from a doctor than a carpenter ....

OT: Someone once told me : " If you want to stay friends with someone , avoid talking about religion and politics" . So i avoid those topics alltogether . Also , "i'm not racist but..." makes me lose all interest in the person. Periode . I have 0 tolerence for racism of any kind .

Dude..."I'm not racist, but" HAS legitimate applications.
I'm not racist, for instance, but sometimes you just have to comment on stuff like black people and their mysterious love of fried chicken.

I had a roommate named Denzel for a couple years. Most stereotypical black guy you can possible imagine, with the exception of his odd flamboyant personality. I KID YOU NOT, he kept our fridge stocked with orange soda, "purple drink" (which I did not know was a thing until then), and watermelon.... and the kitchen counter almost ALWAYS had an empty KFC bucket sitting on it. Dude woke up in the morning blaring gospel music, listened to rap during the day, and switched to R&B at night.
Some days I wonder if Denzel was just messing with us (his 2 white and 1 middle-eastern roommates), but there's no way someone would keep that up for 2 years, right?

In my Game Design class we were talking about having a party the last week of school. The professor was all "we could get some pizza!" the class-clown dude was like "HELL YEA, and we'll get some hookers and blow and PAAAAARTAY!"(completely joking, obviously), and then a black dude in the back of the class goes "Oh shit, man! Can we get some fried chicken up in here too?!"(he was dead serious) The whole class just missed a beat and then burst out laughing. Poor dude look confused for a minute til he realized what he'd said.

How do you explain that?

So, "I'm not racist, but dude...black people seem to love them some fried chicken."

Sometimes it's a legit phrase.

Thank you for doing the exact thing that annoys me so . I no longer consider you are able to contibute anything positive to my stay here at the escapists , and thus you shall go on my ignore list . Your friend is the exact reason i don't associate myself with most black males, they make us look bad . Yes , us . Not only did you manage to annoy me , but you managed to offend me at the same time . You're 2/2 , here have a cookie. I hope you friend ends up where black males "stereotipically" end up . Shot or in jail . I'm not racist but...

Hold on...what? This person, who you have never met, has a different personality to the one you deem acceptable and so you hope he gets shot? Or imprisoned? How could you wish for such a thing? Are you suggesting that people can't like things if stereotypes suggest that they should like them? Because that's just altering your tastes and personality based on popular opinion, which is ridiculous, especially when it's referring to something as inconsequential as food or drink preferences. Leaving aside the issue of racism, wishing someone get shot or imprisoned for having different tastes is just a dickish thing to do.

That's the joke . Notice the " i'm not racist but.." At the end of my post . Referring to a black man that would get shot or go to jail, which is apprently stereotypical.

 

[Daeggreth]

There are plenty of phrases that make me immediately lose interest in a conversation (or alternatively enrage me). Rather than list them, because quite frankly I can't be bothered to think of any, I'll simply say that there are one of two things common to most: condescension or willful ignorance. The whole 'if you were a X you'd understand' is a prime example. You are basically saying the other person is incapable of empathizing or understanding your opinion because they don't share that particular trait. You know what? Fuck you too then. If you want to consider my opinion completely invalidated because I haven't given birth or I haven't fought in a war or I happen to have a y chromosome then I'm not even going to bother with you, because in my eyes you've just told me I'm less than human.

Phew. That got heated awfully fast.

 

[varulfic]

Any mention of logical fallacies.

How about coming up with a real point, eh guys? ;p

Fallacies completely undermine any attempt at a meaningful discussion. Logical fallacies should not be tolerated - pointing them out is the right thing to do. Most people probably don't even realize they are doing it, and it makes us all dumber if we accept them.

I mean really. How do you suggest dealing with a logical fallacy if not by calling it out? You can't argue their point, that's setting yourself up to fail. You can't ignore the argument because that makes it seem like it's such a good point that you don't have an answer for it. It might be annoying, but it's necessary because fallacies are so prevalent.

 

[SnowyGamester]

This thread looked interesting until it accidentally became meta.