Comments | laura_redcloud: 5 More Prepackaged Responses to the Question "Why Are You So Quiet?"

laura_redcloud

5 More Prepackaged Responses to the Question "Why Are You So Quiet?"

Dec 30, 2011 11:13

I've been getting asked "Why are you so quiet?" since I can remember, so I was interested in the Thought Catalogue article Prepackaged responses to the question "Why are you so quiet?" but I found the responses pretty inadequate. Writer Brandon Scott Gorrell acknowledges that they are the things he DOES say rather than the things he SHOULD say, or ( Read more... )

Comments 4

forelyse December 30 2011, 16:47:37 UTC

"I am meant to be seen and not heard."

"I have nothing nice to say."

*talk in sign*

"Penance. I once talked some poor schmuck's ear off."

"I am allotted fifty words per day. They must count."

laura_redcloud December 30 2011, 17:04:59 UTC

Hee hee. I like that last one, especially the economy of "They must count."

More I thought of just now:

*wordlessly shrugging, perhaps adding an indistinct "I'u'o"*

"Unfortunately, I lost my lips in a tragic ski accident." (demonstrably untrue)

"I lost a bet." (Good for any out-of-norm behavior)

"I'm thinking unspeakable things." (points to head) "Just wall-to-wall porn."

I actually think it's in reality a bad idea to give a flip brush-off--while, like the original author, I don't think one should be apologetic and bolster the idea that being quiet is bad, I also don't think it's particularly kind or helpful to assume that the person asking you the question is a jerk. I mean, I've been in the situation with someone quieter than me where I just wanted to beg them to say something, anything, so I knew they weren't seething with rage and/or boredom (even armed with the knowledge that I am often quiet and rarely seething). Still, it's fun to think of glib asshole responses. So much EASIER than being a good person.

forelyse December 31 2011, 00:05:42 UTC

I like to picture the defensive "I'm shy. It's endearing." in the voice of Detective Lassiter from Psych.

anonymous January 1 2012, 05:59:02 UTC

I actually liked his easily dismissed, "Because I like to listen." It's subtly judgmental in the same way that "Why are you so quiet?" is subtly judgmental, and I think it's important to keep to the same level of insult in your banter.

~A