Undiagnosed Tourettes
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to have a special version of Tourette’s Syndrome?
I’m not talking about people that have verbal and/or facial ticks, or people that swear in every sentence that comes out of their mouth. I’m talking about people that just can’t help themselves endlessly spouting the same clichéd bullshit over and over in certain everyday situations.
Maybe it’s yet another example of my total antisocial demeanour, but I am perfectly happy with a lack of conversation when in the presence of others. But for some, that scenario seems to be the very definition of hell! They just don’t know what it is to sit in silence.
Your average taxi driver is very much guilty of this. Just ONCE I’d like to get into a cab and only have to converse in order to communicate my desired destination and then to hear how much to pay when I get there. This goes for almost every social situation, whether it involves a stranger or a friend:
If there’s nothing worth saying, shut the fuck up!
I don’t want to discuss the day’s events so far or the success and/or failure of a local/national sports team. I don’t want to hear about some news story detailing the death of either one celebrity or a dozens/hundreds/thousands of “normal” people. This only serves to compound my annoyance by also having to endure the agenda-based skew that is put on the news by the sources these people unquestioningly believe.
The overuse of clichés and stupid expressions, unnecessary questions and inquiries about how I am, how the weather has been, where I am going, what I’ve been doing … they’re all just noise that invades my already noisy day. I’m perfectly happy to engage in an interesting conversation with anyone, on just about any subject you can name, but all too often these conversations are the very definition of idle chatter and to me, that is way more offensive than the silence you’re attempting to fill.
One more time. If you have nothing worth saying, shut the fuck up!
MisterShouty 