What makes it worse is the language barrier… cuz I’ve been using English since 8 and its my primary lanfuage, and my mom sounds awkward af in English and she won’t understand complex topics…
And like if I start talking philosophy, then it sounds so doomer and like mom be like: (translated) “Why are you overthinking everything?”
But okay wtf do I talk about? Do I start going on a rant about politics and them mom be like: “You can’t change politics, just accept it”
Like WHAT DO YOU WANT?
I talk to dad about like hypothetical interstellar travel and time dialation and dad was like: “Cool story bro” (like the Cantonese equivalent of it)
Like what the hell, are they just so boring? And they are saying I’m gonna become “autistic” because I never talk to them…
There’s nothing to talk about that ends the conversation happily.
Literally more boring responses than a fucking LLM lmfao
Mum: when I was younger, it was practically impossible to hold a conversation with her, or even near her. She had a nasty habit of constantly interrupting every single body, and spend minutes rambling about something unrelated. It was so bad it caused family fights, to give you an idea. To make it worse, asking her a direct question was always a chore, so you couldn’t really direct the conversation to a topic both would enjoy.
As she got older she got this problem under control. [She still does it, but it’s way more bearable.] Nowadays we talk about random stuff; everyday stuff, our days, something I’ve been working on, something she was painting, about plants (her orchids, my peppers), etc.
Sis, BIL: we talk about random stuff, really; small plans, beer, cheese, etc. Or one of them vents about the other for me, as they know I won’t relay it to the other.
Nephew: mostly games, his plans for the uni, computers, stuff like this. Sometimes anime/manga.
The other day we had a family gathering and we’d all paired off talking quietly. Then my mother suddenly piped up saying “and now we will talk about this, answer this question”, ruining everyone’s conversation. My niece and I shut her down, but it was too late, the rest of dinner was awkward as hell.
My mother tends to do this as well. It can work sometimes if it’s a topic of interest to everyone, but it’s usually not and just interrupts.
She and my FIL both do this thing where you can tell they have something they want to talk about, wait for a chance to interject and then suddenly change a natural conversation to their pet topic. I call them both out on it now I’ve noticed.
That sounds extremely forced from her part, even worse than what my mum did. As if she was trying to control the conversation.
Mine was simply clueless. Now thinking, I remember grandma scolding her because of this. Stuff like “aah, let others talk too”.