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People saying "Nevermind" when you ask what they said.


Waist of Thyme

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Waist of Thyme

Sometimes someone says something to me and I ask "Hm?" because I didn't hear what they said. They reply with "Nevermind", and repeated attempts to ask them what they said yield the same response.

Has this happened to anyone else here? I'm completely confused as to why people do this.

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Sometimes you're not supposed to hear everything ;)

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Oh yeah...that's really common. I've done it a couple of time before too. It's either because it's too much trouble to repeat, or they're never going to get it without a ton of explanation and by the time you convey everything you need to, you'd think they'd get tired of it.

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Waist of Thyme

Oh yeah...that's really common. I've done it a couple of time before too. It's either because it's too much trouble to repeat, or they're never going to get it without a ton of explanation and by the time you convey everything you need to, you'd think they'd get tired of it.

Well, the reason I ask what they said isn't because I didn't understand what they said. It's because they were too quiet for me to hear.

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Oh yeah...that's really common. I've done it a couple of time before too. It's either because it's too much trouble to repeat, or they're never going to get it without a ton of explanation and by the time you convey everything you need to, you'd think they'd get tired of it.

Well, the reason I ask what they said isn't because I didn't understand what they said. It's because they were too quiet for me to hear.

Oh! The other reason I've done it before is because what was said was a situational thing or had to be heard in context.

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This generally happens to me when someone insults me or something ^.^ They say nevermind to pass it off as nothing. Very annoying.

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Oh, I've been the one who says "nevermind" plenty of times. :lol: It's usually either because whatever I had to say wasn't important enough to bear repeating, or the other person needed it to be repeated so many times I got fed up and gave up. :P

The other reason I might not bother is if I said something jokingly, and they didn't hear it. It just spoils the humour for me, and I don't think it's worth saying again.

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I'm the one who says never mind. I hate repeating myself and I try to make sure that I say things audibly and clearly enough, so if asked to repeat, I interpret that as not paying attention in the first place which gives me the impression that what I had to say didn't matter to them anyway.

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Yes, I hate it when that happens when I can't hear them and they say "never mind". What's worse is that they'd completely ignore you. Though, I must admit that I have been one to say "never mind" because when someone asks me "what" I wouldn't mind to repeat. Ask me "what" again, I'll repeat even louder. A third "what" starts to aggravate me and I speak even louder than before. When that forth "what" comes along, I just get frustrated and say never mind. Then THEY'D be the one to get mad. -_- It's like 3 strikes and you're out. There's really no excuse how they couldn't hear me because I spoke loud and clear and louder each time.

Edit: I take that back, they don't get a third chance for me to repeat myself.

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binary suns

if i do it, it's 'cause it was a joke that was only funny enough to need the timing... or because it's something i might be embarassed about or resistant to admitting and the sudden focus of needing repeating puts too much pressure on me to be comfortable... or lastly because i'm exhausted and speaking or thinking is too difficult for me to really say much.

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Yeah my brothers do it all the time and I've done it too, but it's usually because what I said isn't relevant anymore. Like if I was asking where something was but at that moment I saw it, then I would just stop and say, "nevermind" because it doesn't matter anymore.

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Scottthespy

I hate that too. When some one doesn't hear me, even if it was a situational thing, I'll give an explanation like "it was just an in the moment joke' or 'ah, nothing, I was just commenting on the sign we passed'. I dont need to say exactly what it was or explain the situation, just give them something to satisfy their curiosity. When people do it to me, I tell them that its very annoying. Not in a snarky way, just "y'know that's pretty annoying", and let them ask why if they want to, or drop it if they don't.

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Sometimes someone says something to me and I ask "Hm?" because I didn't hear what they said. They reply with "Nevermind", and repeated attempts to ask them what they said yield the same response.

Has this happened to anyone else here? I'm completely confused as to why people do this.

I usually do that when either 1) I am busy and don't feel like taking the time away from something else when it wasn't important to begin with 2) It was something that took a lot of work to make myself say in the first place or 3) It was so completely unimportant, the breath required to repeat it would be a waste or 4) It was something I said without thinking that was kinda mean and I am glad they didn't hear it or 5) What I was saying is now no longer an issue, like if I was asking for something but since they weren't paying attention I just went and got it myself (or figured it out myself).

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Sage Raven Domino

I do this all the time, for Serran's reasons 4 and 5. Often, I mumble a phrase too quietly exactly because I'm not sure of what I'm saying or because I'm saying something lame or inappropriate or a Freudian slip; I often decide right during the articulation that I shouldn't have said the phrase and 'cancel' it by mumbling its end. Either way, I usually don't want the other person to hear it again.

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OMG, i hate it when they say "don't worry about it" under non-worrying cercomstances!! With them emphasising on the worry. It erks me SO much. I guess it has to do with my pet-peeve of ppl putting words into my mouth, but also the inconsiderateness or passive agressive "fuck you for asking" i feel it has from the ppl who've used it with me. For example, i say "what color is that?" and they go "don't worry about it."

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Grace Barton

I've done this myself a lot of times. For me, the reason why I resort to that is usually because I've made repeated attempts to say something to someone, and they've interrupted me and cut me off at least twice. Being interrupted is a major pet peeve of mine, so I have a rule: interrupt me once and I will try again. Interrupt me twice and I'll keep my thoughts to myself. I don't waste my time when people obviously aren't interested in anything I'm trying to say. I wouldn't mind so much if said interrupters actually acknowledged that they cut you off and apologised, or asked you to continue.

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Baskervillain

As someone who hates to repeat myself I will do so once out of an understanding that the case could very well be that you simply didn't hear me but after that my mentality is that you aren't paying attention so you are not worth me wasting my breath

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AlwaysADreamer

As someone with some minor hearing issues, I have this problem all the time. It's quite frustrating.

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Grumpy Alien

I'm Hard of Hearing and have heard five hundred lifetimes of "Nevermind." It's one of the surest ways to piss me off. If you can't make such a tiny effort to communicate, I will not make any effort to communicate with you ever again. I've been so angry about it, I've actually turned my hearing aids off and refused eye contact. (Coming from a person I've informed several times that I am very serious when I ask for something to be repeated. While it annoys me, I can understand an initial incident.)

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I do this after already repeating myself once or twice before, or if I said something sarcastic or in a joking way that I said low enough because I didn't really ant them to hear me. (The whole "idiot says "what" thing" or something, ya know?) Some people just really hate repeating themselves, even if just once, for some reason. Most aren't trying to be rude, but it comes across that way sometimes.

Now if you're on your phone or something while doing this, they're probably thinking you don't care enough to listen to them and choose not to repeat themselves because of that. That's the most common situation for me when I don't repeat myself. I hate that.

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I'm Hard of Hearing and have heard five hundred lifetimes of "Nevermind." It's one of the surest ways to piss me off. If you can't make such a tiny effort to communicate, I will not make any effort to communicate with you ever again. I've been so angry about it, I've actually turned my hearing aids off and refused eye contact. (Coming from a person I've informed several times that I am very serious when I ask for something to be repeated. While it annoys me, I can understand an initial incident.)

Well, with people who are hard of hearing, the only time I tend to do that is when I have repeated myself as loudly and as clearly as I possibly could and they still couldn't get it... so short of screaming at them, I have no other option than to drop it. My grandmother is hard of hearing and some words I can nearly scream and she still can't get it. And my voice is soft, so raising it to the point she CAN hear me actually makes my throat sore sometimes. My throat isn't used to the high volume. :(

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binary suns

oh yea, if I know the person is hard of hearing I always repeat myself if they ask

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I've said "never mind" for many of the reasons given above. One of the main reasons I say it sometimes is because I am very shy and awkward and sometimes it takes a lot of effort to overcome that and say something. Then if someone asks me to repeat it it can be even harder to summon the energy to overcome the inhibitions a second time. I was worse when I was younger. I tended to talk quietly, and would get frustrated when people wanted me to repeat things, and it isn't always obvious that it's because they couldn't hear, were distracted, just weren't listening, or are "having you on" as they say. These days it's more likely the case that what I said doesn't bear repeating. And, yes, if I get interrupted too often or can't get a word in I will eventually stop trying and possibly clam up if the person finally realizes and tries to get me to talk. We all have our crosses to bear. "Never mind" doesn't necessarily mean the person is trying to be rude or anything. Sometimes there's not much else we can say. Sorry! :(

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I'm Hard of Hearing and have heard five hundred lifetimes of "Nevermind." It's one of the surest ways to piss me off. If you can't make such a tiny effort to communicate, I will not make any effort to communicate with you ever again. I've been so angry about it, I've actually turned my hearing aids off and refused eye contact. (Coming from a person I've informed several times that I am very serious when I ask for something to be repeated. While it annoys me, I can understand an initial incident.)

I'm hard of hearing also, but I think that's a pretty rude way to behave to someone who may be trying their best to speak loud and clearly enough. It's our disability, not theirs, and one way to make up for that disability is to learn to lip-read.

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cosmosredshift7

I have super bad anxiety, I'm a quiet person, and I have a stutter, so when people don't hear me the first time, I just say never mind instead of repeating myself.

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"I didn't hear clearly." or "I don't understand."

If the person doesn't want to repeat or interprets this as me not listening and wants to give a passive-aggressive response like "never mind" then so be it. If they don't eventually communicate their frustration directly, then so be it. There are plenty of people who want to have good relations and want to share what's going on for them emotionally.

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nerdperson777

Since I'm socially anxious and awkward, my friend told me that I tend to say things that belong to the conversation minutes ago so I have tried learning to let go what I say. Also the first time people keep talking so I have this feeling that they didn't hear it so I say it again. I now know that they did hear it and didn't care so they were just moving on. Before, I just spoke not at all because I was even more awkward and didn't want to mess up things.

Right now a thing that bugs me is that the last time I talked to one of my cousins, whenever I asked him a question, the answer was "you don't want to know". I don't get it. I just asked where he was working now. "You don't want to know." It's not like you're a male stripper or prostitute or something. Wherever you're working right now is probably better than that awful minimum wage casino card dealer job you had two years ago.

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It drives me nuts when people do this. It makes me feel very self conscious and paranoid. I try really hard not to do this unless I've repeated something several times to someone and they still aren't getting it. Eventually I give up.

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