People who repeat themselves - lighthearted

Toetoe

My friend V will constantly repeat herself and go into great detail , the next time she repeats it, even if it's a couple of weeks since I saw her , the story is repeated exactly to the detail as the last time . It's as though she is reliving each moment of the scene . I tell her I've heard it , yes I know , yep , you told me , but it goes on . I have had to pull away and allow a week or so go past because I know I'll hear it all again and again and again . ( she's done it for 30 years !

I say - V can talk a glass eye to sleep

We might have the same friend 🤣

I have a friend who I see most weeks, she has repeated the same story for the last 17 years, (she doesn’t get on with her family), if she has a new chapter to add on, I get the whole chapter & verse - for my own sanity, I have had to tell her I KNOW!
If I repeat more than twice, she will say “ you already told me”- to which I say- you are kidding right! 😩

My friend V will constantly repeat herself and go into great detail , the next time she repeats it, even if it's a couple of weeks since I saw her , the story is repeated exactly to the detail as the last time . It's as though she is reliving each moment of the scene . I tell her I've heard it , yes I know , yep , you told me , but it goes on . I have had to pull away and allow a week or so go past because I know I'll hear it all again and again and again . ( she's done it for 30 years !

I say - V can talk a glass eye to sleep

nandad

I have a friend who will turn a short story into a monologue lasting an hour, and if you interrupt her, she starts all over again. At the same meeting she will repeat what she said earlier.
Which is a repetition of what she told you on the phone! She often loses track of time and so will tell you something that happened months ago as though it was only a couple of weeks ago. She’s been doing this for years, so now instead of getting together as a foursome we meet as a sixsome to dilute the agony.

I find people who are a bit deaf can tend to do this and sometimes you have to interrupt a bit more loudly to get your point across, which is the whole reason why you phoned them in the first place 😀

Yes, guilty (but not as bad as a friend who can tell me the same thing over and over at length and no, she has no signs of Alzheimer's, she just talks a lot).

The problem is remembering who you told it to!
DS at least does remind me that I've told him something before (at least twice, Mum).

I have a friend who will turn a short story into a monologue lasting an hour, and if you interrupt her, she starts all over again. At the same meeting she will repeat what she said earlier.
Which is a repetition of what she told you on the phone! She often loses track of time and so will tell you something that happened months ago as though it was only a couple of weeks ago. She’s been doing this for years, so now instead of getting together as a foursome we meet as a sixsome to dilute the agony.

I have at least one friend whose families I feel I know intimately and I suspect they may say the same of me! We're mostly getting on a bit and we mainly chat about the things and people that mean most to us which does tend to be repetitive. C'est la vie - or at least old age!

I always have had - and still have as far as I am aware - a very good memory for who I've told what. The memory is always linked closely with a picture of the person as I told it and their comments. It is clearer if I told them to their face, I may repeat myself un this way telling an anecdote to someone in the phone.

I have to smile when someone tells me a story over and over again, but a part of it - even a significant detail - changes with each telling!

I am guilty of "starting with Adam and Eve" (that is the German expression I think) because I find that people often start in the middle or don't give a proper context and you have no idea what, or who, they are talking about.

People also often don't consider who the listener is, what or who they know, before launching into their tale. Not to mention whether they would even be interested in it!

Thank you for your comment lixy.
I did need the moan.
I keep thinking about the comment of jocork where she got 3 hours.
I am not sure I could manage to listen for that long.
I do know a person who doesnt pick up the phone to the lady I have talked about. Or only when they feel strong enough themselves to do so.
Which obviously does not help the woman's loneliness.

I have been surprised I didnt get a comment like yellowfox's before now.

Oh dear yellow fox
fancythat did say she was having a rant, and a lighthearted moan. We are all grateful that we have friends and tolerate their idiosyncrasies as they do ours, but every now and then a groan is necessary to oil the wheels.

Well 'fancy that" one day as you get older it might be your friends having a rant about you, if not already!!!!!
You should be glad if you have such a brilliant memory that you know full well that YOU don't repeat yourself.
Ha Ha ---think about it.
I

Now I come to think about it, I dont see posters on here who say they repeat themselves, do it on this forum?
Just musing as to why that might be?

I wonder if it's how oral history is handed down?
You could be right. Interesting thought.

I guess we all do this as we age. Our memories play tricks and half way through a story we realise we've said it before but it's too late.
DD says I don't listen to her and talk over her. I don't mean to be rude but have to get my bit out before I forget.

Then there are triggers. I would have to be careful not to mention certain things to DM or the same old story would come out.
I wonder if it's how oral history is handed down?
When DM was very old, she came out with some new stories we had never heard before, from her early youth. My siblings noticed this too. It was fascinating.

Beckett

I have an acquaintance (can't call her a friend) who starts to tell me something, then realises I don't know the person she is talking about so breaks off to explain who they are, then returns to the story, only to break off again to explain the connection between her and the person she is talking about. A 5 minute story can take almost an hour!!!

I have a friend who does something similar. If I get a letter from her I have to set it aside until I have the time/energy to read it as it will be many pages long in tiny handwriting with enormous amounts of detail about people, some of whom I've never met but know loads about as she's told me their life histories over the years.

I keep in touch with her in some part as a duty as I feel sorry for her. She is single, lives alone and she is in very poor health these days and I get every last detail of all her conditions. Thankfully she lives about 200 miles away so I limit visits to times when I am in her area or passing through. The last time I visited her area we went out for dinner and she talked pretty much non stop for over 3 hours! I thought she'd be interested in pictures of my grandchildren as she always tells me all about her nieces and nephews and their offspring, but I never even had a chance to get my phone out to show her!

I know I can be guilty of telling a tale more than once but hope I never end up as sad and lonely as she seems to be.

My SiL does this. She will tell you something and then repeat it all again a few moments later. She’s always done this, so it’s not age related. Drives me nuts, I feel like saying “you’ve just told me/us that”, but of course, I don’t, as I don’t want to be rude, or fall out with her.

I am sure we are all guilty of this. 🤣

Sometimes if you've made no comment when you've been told something, people can presume you're not listening. They'll be aware they told you, but you didn't hear them, so they'll often tell the story again, possibly in the hope you will say.. that you remember them telling you..

Older people are so often ignored, that's a reason they can tell stories to you more than once.. if they fell you've not been listening the first time.

I have heard some tales a few times but just listen as I know how much the person is enjoying telling me.
I know I am guilty of repeating a story but friends just tell me that I've already told them that tale.

I used to work with someone who would come in my office and tell me all about the previous night’s Coronation Street. I have never watched it, wasn’t interested and told her so every d****d time!

flappergirl

It is annoying but I find it even more grating that the conversation (monologue) is all about them. I was reading a post on Mumsnet recently where a youngish woman (maybe 40's) and her similarly aged colleagues were bombarded for nearly an hour every single day by a colleague who is 60. She tells them bell book and candle each graphic detail of her elderly mum's ailments, right down to her bowel movements. The woman concerned is married and has 2 siblings who help with her mum's care, so she isn't isolated or lonely. Typically she never once has asked how her colleagues are. I don't understand how anyone can lack such self awareness. People who aren't particularly close to you (and even some who are) really don't want a daily running commentary.

I used to work with a woman who’d ask me about my weekend , kids , holiday etc . I’d start to tell her and then she’d interrupt and tell me about her weekend, kids, holiday etc!!! . It used to drive me mad plus it was so rude .

I used to work with a man who repeated the last few words you said then giggled, before replying. At the time I thought it was a belittling tactic.

Years later found out about a condition known as echolalia but I still think he probably used it to belittle as I don't remember him doing it with the other men.

fancythat

I dont mean those who are ill in any way.

I am just having a light hearted moan.
I know a lady who can literally repeat many things she has said before, for 20 minutes.
I give her a lift, so cant do much about it, other than stop doing so. Which I wont.
But, grrr.
She wont remember next week what she has told people this week.

It isnt only her.
I can see another couple of people in my life starting the same trait.

I dont even like some music as the lyrics are on repeat.
I feel like saying "I understood the first time around".

Rant over!

Feel free to add your own rants about anything, if you want to.
I just needed to get this out of my system!

My husband says I repeat myself - of course I do, he doesn't listen, nor can he remember the utterly important things I say.

Slightly off topic are those people who mouth the words you are saying during a conversation.
Drives me mad !

I know I am "Guilty as charged" in respect of telling the same news over and over. Now that I actually have an official diagnosis of "Mild Cognitive Impairment" family and friends are much kinder in their responses to my serial reporting and updates, though less kind when I fail to tell them something because I think I have already told them