Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Firecat Date: 17 Feb 01 - 08:42 AM When I was in Year 11,I had a horrible Technology teacher who was forever moving me away from my friends because they'd dropped Tech and I hadn't. Anyway one lesson (about a fortnight before the start of my GCSE's) she came up and asked me to move, and then went away before I did. Ten minutes later I was still there and she came up and sid "Katy, I told you to move". I was angry as it was, if I hadn't been I don't think I would have replied with "And I told you I wasn't moving!". The whole class went completely silent, probably because they were so shocked that I'd answered back!! |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: catspaw49 Date: 16 Feb 01 - 09:30 AM SETH --- As another long time foster/adoptive parent, I know of what you speak. What becomes natural in "your" world, sounds really strange to someone not familiar. Sometimes its fun just to do it on purpose though......maybe a bit cruel.....but if you handle it right, it can be interesting. Our boys are a great example. Some poor soul will start off with, "My, aren't they cute," and the like and in an effort to say something, virtually everyone cranks out the same old, "They really look like you." Now our boys are same race, but in point of fact they bear no resemblance to either Karen or I. They DO look a bit like each other although they are not genetically related. At this point you have a choice:
"They really look like you!" That's generally a stopper. Then you smile and say thanks and put them at ease discussing how lucky we are etc. BUT.....You can wait for another in our case, becasuse they do look alike:
"Are they twins?" "No, they're nine and a half months apart." (true) Although it sets some nice folks back a little, I can generally get them to have a laugh and then talk about adoption and fostering. We've gotten a few recruits just that way. Of course for those patronizing sorts that are just passing the time, I just use the stopper with a little smile. Generally shuts them right up. Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: catspaw49 Date: 16 Feb 01 - 08:44 AM and that ties right in with, "Let's get something straight between us." Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: walkinman Date: 16 Feb 01 - 08:30 AM ".....if I said, you've got a beautiful body, would ya' hold it against me?" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Peter K (Fionn) Date: 15 Feb 01 - 09:37 AM Heard recently: "Excuse us itching, but we'e both got fleas." |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Helen Date: 15 Feb 01 - 05:41 AM Roger-t-s, You've just reminded me of the time when I shared a house with 2 medical interns. The dinner table conversation was often a detective-story type guessing game they played where one doctor would name a symptom and the other would try to guess what the disease was. Another symptom was named each time the other doctor guessed wrong. It made me decide that I'd rather die than be treated by the male doctor, but I'd go anywhere to consult the female one. He kept jumping to conclusions very early in the game and then refused to be swayed in his decision by any of the symptoms named after that. As for dinner time conversations - the rest of us were too busy trying to hang on to the contents of our stomachs to make polite conversation. Helen |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Katcina Date: 15 Feb 01 - 03:33 AM I am enjoying reading this one so I decided to refresh it before it dropped off the face of things. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 14 Feb 01 - 03:49 AM Actually my wife's godfather was a forensic pathologist who dealt with many gory crimes and had a very booming voice (he also taught in med school in Birmingham). Apparently he could empty restaurants with his anecdotes faster than I can empty bars with my singing, and you never knew what he'd produce from his pockets...! RtS |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Seth Date: 13 Feb 01 - 10:50 PM This was told to me by a friend. From a Conservative Jewish family, she had been living with her kids on a Canadian island, far from anything appearing Jewish. She takes her kids to Florida, after ten years, to meet her parents. Bit of a reconciliation. At the Fountainbleau? Hotel in Miami,daughter in the gift shop, yells to Mom across the lobby, "Hey,Mom! Are we Jewish??" Seth from China |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Helen Date: 13 Feb 01 - 05:00 PM Liz, you're right. Just a brain-blip. Er.. there is a character called Maria in West Side Story isn't there? Helen (wandering away mumbling incoherently) |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: RichM Date: 13 Feb 01 - 04:59 PM Camisu has a friend who is a pathologist. I wish my dad had been a pathologist. I would have loved to bring him to school for "show and tell" : ie, "what my dad does at work"... |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: CamiSu Date: 13 Feb 01 - 04:45 PM The one one when I was on the phone... "My dog just got hit by a car!!" Dog was a bit bruised, but basically fine. Driver was a bit distraught. (Black dog on a dark night. Thank goodness our new neighbors were quick thinking and when they couldn't get the dog out of the path ofthe car, they shone their flashlight on her, giving the driver half a chance to slow down!) My friend has one, when asked what she does. "I'm a pathologist." Autopsies immediately come to mind. CamiSu |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Jim Krause Date: 13 Feb 01 - 04:08 PM Pushing back your chair at a dinner party, you sigh and contentedly say "I have had a sufficiency of the fanciful." You wait for the expected look of incomprehension, and respond "I've had a physic and my pants are full." Said with a big smile on your face as you are about to leave, "I don't know when I've had a good time!" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Wesley S Date: 13 Feb 01 - 03:51 PM Followed by - "How would you like to be the father of my children?? " |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: CarolC Date: 13 Feb 01 - 03:49 PM "My water just broke." |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: grumpy al Date: 13 Feb 01 - 03:41 PM Just got this one from a friend, apparently over heard at a bluegrass festival. Q; what is the definition of perfect pitch? A; tossing a banjo into the skip without hitting the sides |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: grumpy al Date: 13 Feb 01 - 03:31 PM with appologies to Melani I used to be schizophrenic but we're alright now. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: MMario Date: 13 Feb 01 - 09:09 AM "Do you have a tune for those lyrics?" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Wesley S Date: 13 Feb 01 - 08:59 AM "Excuse me - are farts supposed to be lumpy??" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Seth Date: 13 Feb 01 - 08:06 AM I have adopted children of different races and have also been a foster parent for older kids for many years. So we deal with whatever with our kids. In the locker room at the YMCA. Lots of guy talk "What did you do over the weekend Bob?"kinds of stuff> Golf, golf, golf;sailboat, sailboat, sailboat;computer, computer, computer; fixit, fixit,football, football, football:- Over to me "Seth, we didn't see you down here on Saturday...." Me " Oh,yeah, I was up in Tacoma at the beautician with my daughter, getting her hair extensions re-done." A full thirty seconds of dead air, the only sound being the showers running, before somone else picked up the guy thread again. Seth from China |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: sophocleese Date: 12 Feb 01 - 10:33 PM My first year at University and I'm sitting in the college pub with a couple of friends who don't want me drumming on the tabletop along with the music. The music comes to an end and, clear as a bell, a voice from the other side of the room says, "I'm on a new diet this week, KY jelly and sperm!" Silence. Then my friends say, "Quick start drumming!" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Melani Date: 12 Feb 01 - 10:20 PM My recently departed aunt was unfortunately schizophrenic, and could be very weird at times. Once during one of her stranger phases, she went to visit her sister at her summer cabin, at a time when there were other guests. She was totally peculiar, wearing sloppy clothes, not combing her hair, and making all manner of strange statements. Aunt #2 found it very trying. One night at dinner, during a lull in the conversation, Auntie Weirdo inquired brightly, "Well, did you hear they found Napolean's penis?" THAT was a conversation stopper, for sure. After a silence, the subject was tactfully changed. When Aunt #2 arrived home, she found her mail waiting for her on the kitchen table, and began thumbing through a "Time" magazine. There she found a story relating the discovery by somebody or other of a withered scrap of flesh thought to be Napolean's penis, removed by his doctor after his death, apparently as a souvenir. It turned out to be the only normal thing Auntie Weirdo had said all weekend! |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Mrrzy Date: 12 Feb 01 - 09:48 PM A friend (really, this wasn't me) was in the checkout line once, laid a nice, discreet, quiet fart, and then tried to kind of walk past it. Suddenly up pipes her three-year-old from the kid part of the cart she's pushing - really loudly - I smell Mommy farts! Silence fell around her from checkout lines on either side - poor thing couldn't even pretend it wasn't her kid! But what do people use when they want to stop a conversation? |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: GUEST,petr Date: 12 Feb 01 - 09:01 PM one fragment overheard at a pub. "Its just that I dont want to be used as a toothpick" . . Liz Carroll the great fiddler from Chicago, said her husband related their 5 year old daughters words as they came back from a demolition derby. "When I grow up I want to crush cars with my nipples." Liz wrote a reel called crushed cars. great tune. petr |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: wdyat12 Date: 12 Feb 01 - 08:51 PM Aside from this observation, Rich I'd say you stopped this conversation for an hour and 45 minutes with that one. wdyat12 |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall) Date: 12 Feb 01 - 07:15 PM At dinner, excuse yourself for a couple minutes and when you return to the table, announce; "Yup, just something about a good old-fashioned corn-shit that makes you proud to be an American" Rich |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 12 Feb 01 - 05:29 PM Er, don't you mean the Sound of Music?? Or have you just met a nun called Maria..... LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Helen Date: 12 Feb 01 - 04:44 PM Liz-t-s, Have you seen a really clever book by Ronald Searles called Winespeak. It's illustrations of the language used to describe wine but applied to people. It's very funny. One of the people is "fruity". I'll have to scan it in and send it to you. When I lived in this house 25 years ago - when I rented it as a student, before I moved to various other houses, and then bought it 3 years ago - we shared the house with a young woman named Maria who had psychiatric problems. She was very good at dropping non sequiturs into conversations and totally stopping everyone from talking. But one day a friend of ours was here, and she had been rehearsing West Side Story for a few weeks. As our flatmate wandered vaguely through the kitchen, past the table where we were all sitting, my friend absentmindedly started singing "What do you do with a problem like Maria?" We were all gobsmacked, waitng for Maria to react but it went straight over her head - luckily. Helen |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: grumpy al Date: 12 Feb 01 - 04:18 PM Really the beagles do enjoy smoking. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: MMario Date: 12 Feb 01 - 03:23 PM Two that used to stop conversations (about once a week) in my student apartment during college: "Damn, the boa's loose again!" "Has anyone seen Emily?" (Emily was the tarantula) |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Mr Red Date: 12 Feb 01 - 03:19 PM a very nice chap said to me recently after a very eudite expose on the origins of (er lets say Pace Egging Songs) and he replied, "Of course you might be confusing me with someone who gives a toss!" Not used it myself yet but I am POISED! |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: kendall Date: 12 Feb 01 - 02:43 PM I came from a bluegrass festival, forgot about the wrist band. Went into a store, where a strange lady asked if I had been in the hospital. I replied "Yes, but, I'm ok if I remember to take the pills for the voices" she didnt ask anymore questions. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: GUEST,Les B Date: 12 Feb 01 - 11:47 AM "Does this ringing in my head bother you ?" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 12 Feb 01 - 10:13 AM It is alledged that when I was young around the 12th of July time the bands and Orangemen were going past when I announced to my parents "I don't like those orange bands". My mother was horrified, wondering where on earth I had heard such a thing, when I continued "I like the blue ones, and the red ones though". Well, blue was always my favourite colour. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Kim C Date: 12 Feb 01 - 10:13 AM Saying you're a reenactor to someone who doesn't give a flip about history is a good one. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: GUEST,Russ Date: 12 Feb 01 - 09:41 AM "I play folk music." |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Pseudolus Date: 12 Feb 01 - 09:35 AM I had a similar situation to Don's with my kid "speaking her mind" at a grocery store. We were behind an unusually large woman when my daughter said, "Dad, that lady has a big butt...." I thought the worst was over but when the woman turned around to see if it was her that Mandy was talking about, Mandy said while pointing, "Well, she does!!!!" Maybe, embarrassing things your kids have done is a thread all its own..... Frank |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: walkinman Date: 11 Feb 01 - 09:56 AM "...lets's face it, God created women because sheep can't cook." |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: DonMeixner Date: 11 Feb 01 - 09:48 AM One valentines day when my daughter, the brilliant Rebekkah asked me, " Dad, when you were 18 what did you want to get from a girl." I just dead panned her until she realized what she had said, she said "Oh." Turned red and ran from the kitchen. When I was in the Boatyard one of my jobs was sand blasting hulls prior to painting. We used Black Beauty BB Blast which always covered me with a dark gray dust. I walked home for lunch and because I was going right back at in a half hour I didn't shower but ate sandwiches with Bekkah on the porch and headed back to work. When I got home that evening my wife told about little blond Bekkah in the check out line at the store looking at her 3.5 year old arms and asking, "Mommy. how come Daddy is so black and I'm so white?" This silenced fours aisles of shoppers in the Baldwinsville P&C. Don |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Mooh Date: 11 Feb 01 - 08:37 AM "Did we meet in your wet dream or mine?" "Really, I've been good since I got outa prison." Just waiting for people to notice that I drool alot seems to have that effect too. Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: bill\sables Date: 11 Feb 01 - 08:07 AM When my daughter was small she came in and said "I've been playing with the dogs little red thing". We were so relieved when we saw the dog had a little red barrel with it's name inside attached to its collar. When we had the car accident on boxing day last year I crawled out of the car and went to a house with a light in the window and the curtains open. I tapped on the window and the family inside, who were watching TV, had an instant look of horror on their faces. I didn't realise till they asked me in that my face was covered in blood and my usually white beard was stained red. They instantly lost interest in the TV programme they were watching. Bill |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Inukshuk Date: 11 Feb 01 - 06:36 AM I'm with Spaw on this. Last night at suppertime my five year old granddaughter came out with this gem. "I pulled a really big booger out of my nose, and it was purple." Bon appetite. |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Monashee Date: 11 Feb 01 - 04:38 AM ~did anyone else notice the food seemed a bit off?~ |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Lonesome EJ Date: 11 Feb 01 - 02:28 AM I once briefly dated a woman who was attractive, enthusiastic, and as dumb as a sack of turnips. A friend of mine invited me over for dinner, and I brought Sherry. We were discussing our favorite films and directors (at least my friend, his wife and I were) when there was a sudden pause in the conversation. That's when Sherry piped up with "Wow! Sounds like an art form!" |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Sorcha Date: 11 Feb 01 - 01:48 AM HI! My name's (insert here). Ya'll know Rocky Top? Hey, anybody know Danny Boy? (St. Pats commin' up--brace yourselves........) |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: bob jr Date: 11 Feb 01 - 01:45 AM have you personally accepted christ the lord as the one true savior? i have some pamphlets from my church you should look at..... |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: Hobie Date: 11 Feb 01 - 01:31 AM .....and when i came to, there was blood everywhere... Hobie |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: flattop Date: 10 Feb 01 - 11:31 PM When my brother taught health in a school in Eastern Canada they promote a dumb idea that we should sleep with our windows open. A kid in the class was troubled because he slept with his uncle and his uncle wasn't going to keep the window open in freezing Canadian winters. Then one day the kid tells my brother that he slept with the window open the night before. My brother asks the kid how he was able to pull it off. The kid answers, "My father was away so my uncle slept with my mother." |
Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: flattop Date: 10 Feb 01 - 11:09 PM Back when the Goode Brothers played autoharp and guitar at the Penny Farthing on warm summer nights in Yorkville, two hippy girls sat at our table. One of them immediately asked me, "What is your sign?" I didn't believe in astrology but I told her anyway. She replied, "Geminis are a good fuck." I was at a loss for words when I wanted to shout, "I believe! I believe!"
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Subject: RE: BS: conversation stoppers From: campfire Date: 10 Feb 01 - 10:38 PM I once worked as a file clerk, and filed a case involving a pending divorce. Seems the Mrs. thought Mr. Goodenough wasn't. campfire |