Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Amélie''': I had two heart attacks, an abortion, did crack...while I was pregnant. Other than that, I'm fine.

 

Bob is busy with something - playing a game, reading a book, [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|tampering in the domain of God]] - and Alice comes up and tries to talk to him about "something important." Bob just answers with a few muttered lines of, "Yep, uh-huh, yeah," the lion's share of his concentration on his task, until Alice gets annoyed and says something completely outlandish: "There's a weasel chewing on my [[Discworld|figgin]]." After a moment, the absurdity sinks in and Bob asks what she said, which (usually) prompts the stock phrase: "You're not listening to me, are you?"

 

This is [[Truth in Television]] as almost any couple can attest.

{{examples}}

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Wayne's World|Wayne's World 2]]'': When the boys give an interview to a local radio DJ, they discover he's more interested in loading tapes than actually listening...so they start calling him names, and he's completely oblivious to their joking around.

* ''The Shaggy Dog'' [2006] has a scene where Doug's wife Rebecca is trying to point out to him that he's turning into the present-in-body-only form of [[Disappeared Dad]]. She points out the kids got into an argument and took the dog's side. Doug nods. Then, to test if he's listening, she tells him that a neighbor asked her something and she told the neighbor the family had converted to cannibalism. Doug replies, "OK, great. I'd have said the same thing." In an odd twist, he does not pick up the absurdity, and Rebecca is forced to drop a pile of heavy law books on his desk to get his full attention.

* ''[[Amelie]]'' provides the page quote. Amelie's father is distracted because his favorite gnome went missing and sent him pictures from various cities around the world. What he doesn't know is that {{spoiler|Amelie got one of her friends that was a flight attendant to take the gnome and take pictures of it around the world, all to convince her father to travel more.}}

* Used in ''[[Extraordinary Measures]]'' by, of all people, the [[Ill Girl]]. Realizing that her father is not paying attention to her playing, she tells him about how her doll is going to go [[Ax Crazy]] and slaughter penguins. It takes him awhile to notice.

 

== Literature ==

* [[Discworld]]:

** Later in the same book, Sybil mentions that she's going to have a baby, and the narrative records that Vimes' brain hastily paints this in ten-foot-high letters across his subconscious to prevent him answering absently with something unwise such as "Choose any colour you like" or "I'll have a man in to take care of it".

{{quote|"Do ''tell'' me about yourself!!"

"I'm from somewhere up in the mountains you've probably never heard of..."

"Cool. So yeah, Jon wants to do a drum solo and we were like, 'Dude, ''no''!'" }}

 

* From ''[[Babylon 5]]'':

** In "Infection", an old mentor of Stephen Franklin's comes back with some alien artifacts that look like they're organic technology. Stephen gets so absorbed in the research that his friend tries to draw him out with the statement, "[[War of the Worlds|There's a Martian war machine parked outside; they'd like a word with you about the common cold.]]"

* In ''[[Scrubs]]'', the Janitor tells JD that he's going on a janitor-only cruise for the weekend. He then tells JD that he paid Ted and Todd to duct tape him to the ceiling of the cafeteria while he's away and that [[Lampshade Hanging|the only reason he's telling him this]] is that he knows that JD has zoned out by now and isn't even paying attention. JD then leaves, saying that he wasn't sure what the Janitor had said.

** In another episode, Dr Cox tries the same thing on Dr Kelso:

'''Dr. Kelso''': ''{not looking up)'' Well, you must not be familiar with it because you're the only staff member not to have completed his 24-hour mandatory community service. Consider yourself suspended until you do. [[Subverted Trope|Oh, and I'm never dying.]] }}

* In an episode of ''[[Dinosaurs]]'', Earl is poring over his new car's operating manual while Fran tries to tell him her errands for the day. She then tries to get his attention with a line something like "...and then I'm going to strip down and start dancing in the driveway." Earl just brushes her off with "Have fun," while the baby asks to dance with her.

{{quote| '''Jill:''' So anyway, the lessons are on Tuesday nights. And it doesn't really cost very much. And I've been having an affair with a space alien. Yep, I'm having his baby.}}

* An episode of ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' uses this.

'''Sheppard''': Whatever, ''[[Embarrassing First Name|Meredith]]'' }}

* ''[[White Collar]]'':

'''Elizabeth''': Okay, admit it. You're worried about Neal. }}

* ''[[Castle]]'':

* ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'': Emily Gilmore outlines her itinerary for the day to Richard, who is engrossed in the financial pages. She ends it by telling him that she was going to have sex with the gardener after the party they were planning. It was averted because Richard ''had'' been listening and suggested that the gardener might not be able to wait. After all, ''he'' hadn't.

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'':

'''Barney Stinson:''' [[Diff'rent Strokes]]! }}

* ''[[Angel]]'':

'''Angel:''' What? I'm with you. Turning over to... ''(mentally catches up)'' Santa? }}

* From ''[[H₂O: Just Add Water]]'' Rikki gives us this little gem while Lewis is too busy at his computer.

'''Lewis:''' Sure, no problem. }}

* In ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' when Andrea is talking about the interior decorator...

'''Andrea:''' Oh you were listening. }}

* ''[[Houston Knights]]'': Detective Lundy tells his distracted lieutenant that he's thinking about buying a suspect lunch, a new car, and a round-trip ticket to Paris. She doesn't react as he says it, but a few minutes later she dryly warns his bemused partner that she doesn't want to see a ticket to Paris on their expense report.

* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'': Lois is distracted on the way home after an evening out with Lex Luthor. When she doesn't respond to his comments about the production of ''Othello'' they just saw, he says, "Did you know that Shakespeare didn't write ''Othello''? Turns out it was written by Dr. Seuss." Lois just nods and says "mm-hm".

* In [[Queer as Folk]] Michael is doing laundry, and there's an incredibly creepy guy there, staring at him like he wants to devour him. Michael rushes out of there and is in such a hurry that he drops things on the way out. When he comes back to the apartment, Ben is engrossed in the newspaper.

'''Michael:''' *walks over, throws himself across Ben's lap and steals his glasses and the newspaper* }}

* In a season three episode of [[NCIS]], McGee isn't listening to Abby, prompting her to say: "I'm pregnant, McGee. Twins. Haven't told the father yet. It's Gibbs. I know it's wrong, but something about his silver hair just gets me all tingly inside."

* In an episode of [[Star Trek: Voyager]], B'Elanna makes the mistake of building [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|Tom]] a ''[[Too Dumb to Live|television set]]''.

'''B'Elanna:''' ...Maybe this was a bad idea... }}

* ''[[The 4400]]'' has "So I took my pistol and I shot her in the forehead." Tom immediately looks up and says "Shot who?" The other character laughs at how he was clearly not listening.

 

== Music ==

** Except for one verse, which is about [[Intercourse with You|something else entirely...]]

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* One ''[[FoxTrot]]'' strip had Paige make all sorts of strange statements, which Roger basically ignores giving the "yeah", "uh-huh", and "that's nice", responses because he's reading the paper... right up until she says she's staying an hour past curfew, and he promptly shoots down her request. She comments that one day she's going to get past his "Dad Radar". Meanwhile, Peter or Jason is telling him his intent to change his name to "Moonbuggy", with the same initial responses.

* Calvin of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' tried a similar trick on his mother by announcing that he planned to become a radical terrorist when he grew up and that he was going to inhale a pesticide, to both of which his mother responded with a distracted "Mm hmm". But when he declared that he was going to stay up all night and watch television, she shot him down, leading him to observe "You can never tell if they're listening or not" (paraphrase).

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* On [[SHIMMER]] volume 26, LuFisto earned herself a title shot by asking the inattentive champion MsChif a long series of inane questions - ending in a request for a title match.

 

== Video Games ==

* In [[Jade Empire]], a man sends you to search the marshes for Fen, whom slavers have captured. You find a woman, but she isn't pleased to find out that you've been sent to find her husband's ox. When they leave the marshes together:

(offscreen) *smack!* }}

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[A Miracle of Science]]''.

"Uh-huh." }}

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'':

'''Susan''': "[http://www.egscomics.com/?date{{=}}2003-07-03 Have fun]." }}

** In the first strip, main character Danny appears to be studying a magic tome while his teacher Pat (a vampire) compliments him on his work ethic. After he realizes Danny's not listening, Pat says, "...and I ran out of pig's blood so I'm going to cut open your jugular and take all yours." Then he snatches the porn magazine Danny had hidden behind his spellbook.

** In a much later strip, a werewolf girl is trying to set up a romantic evening with her boyfriend, a bounty hunter who's busy planning his next kill. He doesn't even notice that he's agreed to watch a chick flick with her, so she asks if she can paint his claws bright pink.

* In ''[[Station V3|Station V 3]]'', one rumormonger is constantly repeating "I know that", leading to the [http://www.stationv3.com/d/20050516.html following dialogue]:

'''RM #2''': I know that. }}

* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'':

* [[Moon Over June]]: [http://moonoverjune.com/go/95 Summer actually IS listening] (link not work safe).

* Subverted in ''[[Starslip]]'':

'''Cutter''': I am, Quine. You know where the extinguishers are. }}

* Can't remember which comic, but someone did a visual version of this: A woman and her boyfriend were going clothes-shopping and he responds to every time that she asks "How do I look in this?" with "Fine." ... Including when she comes out wearing nothing.

* This happens to Amy in one issue of ''[[Sonic the Comic Online]]''. Her friend says, to see whether she's listening or not, "I'm really Don Long-Legs in a wig" (which is funny since she has no hair, being an anthropomorphic bug), and Amy just replies "Mm".

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote| '''Penny:''' We would be able to provide 250 new beds, get people off the streets and into job training so they could... buy rocket packs and go to the moon and become florists... You're not really interested in the homeless, are you?}}

* ''[[The Joker Blogs]]'': Poison Iv - uh, Pamela Isley does this to Harleen Quinzel, who's feeling the pre-wedding nerves.

"[[Subverted Trope|That's okay, I poisoned your champagne.]]" }}

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'':

** A sequence from the episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" may or may not have been intended this way:

'''Bart''': I'm just mad all the time. }}

** Maybe a subversion in a ''Simpsons'' episode called "Kill the Alligator and Run" where Homer gets in trouble from a guard [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=dpCfDf1h6TE for listening to a conversation]:

'''Guard''': You just don' learn do you? }}

* ''[[Chowder]]'':

** Played with when the title character's boss, Mung Daal, has just started lecturing him. He immediately cuts to an [[Imagine Spot]] about filling the room with chocolate and swimming in it.

'''Mung Daal''': Lucky guess. }}

** Also used in a holiday special ''Hey Hey It's Knishmas!'' with Panini trying to explain to Chowder that Knish Krinkle was only Gazpacho in a costume.

* Played with, like so many other tropes, in ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Kim claims Ron wasn't listening to him and it not only turns out that he was listening, but that he fully expected her to claim otherwise and recites her words back exactly.

* From the ''[[Daria]]'' episode ''That Was Then, This Is Dumb'':

'''Jesse''': Cool. }}

** Also played with elsewhere:

'''Daria''': Relax...we don't have to answer that. }}

* The children's film ''[[Quest for Camelot]]''. Kaylee, having just been [[Rescue Romance|rescued]] by Garrett, says something like this:

{{quote| "Wow! You're amazing! You're incredible! You're... not even listening to me..."}}

* From an episode of ''[[Sushi Pack]]'', where Maguro is trying to get Tako to stop playing a video game and come to dinner:

'''Tako''': Yeah, whatever. Maguro, I'm ''playing'' here! }}

* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Dragonshy," Fluttershy tries to get out of going on a dangerous mission, and approaches Twilight Sparkle while she's reading the map. The unicorn isn't really listening and just keeps saying, "Uh huh," even when Fluttershy says she should just stay home.

{{quote| "You're from the planet ''Krypton?"''}}

* This exchange from ''[[King of the Hill]]''.

'''Boomhauer:''' Mmhmm. }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Phrases]]

[[Category:Alice and Bob]]