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

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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Amélie''': I had two heart attacks, an abortion, did crack...while I was pregnant. Other than that, I'm fine.
'''Father''': That's nice...|''[[Amelie]]''}}
|''[[Amelie]]''}}
 
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?"
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This is [[Truth in Television]] as almost any couple can attest.
 
{{examples}}
== LiveFan Action TVWorks ==
* The famous ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' fanfic ''[[Bag Enders]]'' features Aragorn trying to get Legolas' attention:
{{quote|"I'm pregnant."
"Mhm."
"I've sold the house to an international terrorist organisation."
"Mhm."
[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"I've told Celeborn he can come live with us. Permanently."]]
"You what?"
"I thought you weren't listening." }}
* From the ''[[Death Note]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4382737/1/Its_Just_a_Game It's Just a Game]'', we get this exchange:
{{quote|'''Wammy''': What is it, Namikawa?
'''Namikawa''': Just some reports that I wanted to give you in person. Apparently there's a health concern about one of the employees that we don't want the media to know about.
'''Wammy''': ''[No response.]''
'''Namikawa''': One of our employees is in what might be a temporary coma.... There have never been any problems severing a connection with the game before so it's a cause for concern.
'''Wammy''': ...hmm, the media?
'''Namikawa''': The man concerned is Teru Mikami.... He's in the infirmary now, and we're moving him to the hospital if nothing improves. We didn't want a media storm from this, which is why…
'''Wammy''': ''[No response.]''
'''Namikawa''': [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|Actually, Mikami and I were thinking of getting married, and we want L to be the godfather of our adoptive children.]]
'''Wammy''': ''[Looks up from his paperwork and blinks.]'' What about my son? }}
 
== 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.
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* ''[[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.
* In ''[[Carry On|Carry On Camping]]'', Peter Potter tries to tell his wife, Harriet, that he doesn't want to go camping this summer, but instead wants to go to a resort. She is busy going through their camping things and is ignoring him, so, in the same tone of voice, he talks about his afternoon at work where a series of bizarre things happened, to which she continues talking about their upcoming camping trip.
 
== Literature ==
 
* [[Discworld]]:
** ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'' has a lengthy discussion of the art of listening without listening, which features His Grace His Excellency Commander Sir Samuel Vimes the Dukh of Ankh not only making noises like he's listening to his wife planning for their trip to Uberwald, but adding an appropriate comment to the conversation... and then asking, a moment later, "What alligator?"
** 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".
** Also in ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'', Agnes does this:
{{quote|"Do ''tell'' me about yourself!!"
"I'm from somewhere up in the mountains you've probably never heard of..."
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"Cool. So yeah, Jon wants to do a drum solo and we were like, 'Dude, ''no''!'" }}
 
== FanLive-Action FicTV ==
 
* The famous ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' fanfic ''[[Bag Enders]]'' features Aragorn trying to get Legolas' attention:
{{quote|"I'm pregnant."
"Mhm."
"I've sold the house to an international terrorist organisation."
"Mhm."
[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"I've told Celeborn he can come live with us. Permanently."]]
"You what?"
"I thought you weren't listening." }}
* From the [[Death Note]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4382737/1/Its_Just_a_Game It's Just a Game], we get this exchange:
{{quote|'''Wammy''': What is it, Namikawa?
'''Namikawa''': Just some reports that I wanted to give you in person. Apparently there's a health concern about one of the employees that we don't want the media to know about.
'''Wammy''': ''[No response.]''
'''Namikawa''': One of our employees is in what might be a temporary coma.... There have never been any problems severing a connection with the game before so it's a cause for concern.
'''Wammy''': ...hmm, the media?
'''Namikawa''': The man concerned is Teru Mikami.... He's in the infirmary now, and we're moving him to the hospital if nothing improves. We didn't want a media storm from this, which is why…
'''Wammy''': ''[No response.]''
'''Namikawa''': [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|Actually, Mikami and I were thinking of getting married, and we want L to be the godfather of our adoptive children.]]
'''Wammy''': ''[Looks up from his paperwork and blinks.]'' What about my son? }}
 
== Live Action TV ==
 
* 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.]]"
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== Music ==
 
* The chorus of the song 'circle of shame' by 'the All New Rosie and Rachel show' is a series of minimal responses a woman uses to give the impression that she's listening. Listen to it here: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160423154151/http://invocal.bandcamp.com/track/circle-of-shame]
** 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).
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== 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:
{{quote| '''Woman''': "Do I have to slaughter that thing to get your attention?"
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== Web Comics ==
 
* ''[[A Miracle of Science]]''.
{{quote| "...Burmese tiger traps are fun and recommended for ages six and up."
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** 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]:
{{quote| '''RM #1''': Orange aardvarks are going to visit the moon.
'''RM #2''': I know that.
'''RM #1''': You're not listening to a word I say.
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* 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".
* ''[[Bad Machinery]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20191017053022/http://scarygoround.com/badmachinery/index.php?date=20110804 here].
{{quote|'''Blossom''' (GM): You enter a castle keep. There's a bearskin rug on the ground and —
'''Blossom''' (GM): — Giant pink llamas come flyin' out of your bum singing LA CUCARACHA.
'''Corky''': Lightning Bolt.
'''Blossom''': if he stares at Shauna Wickle any harder, she'll catch fire.
'''Tuan''': Break enchantment }}
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' got a bar musician [//www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-01-04 doing this].
 
== Web Original ==
* ''[[DoctorDr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'': Dr. Horrible is in the middle of conducting a heist via remote control when his crush, Penny, asks him to sign a petition for a homeless shelter. He tries to keep up a conversation with her while working the remote, and she picks up on his distraction:
 
* ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'': Dr. Horrible is in the middle of conducting a heist via remote control when his crush, Penny, asks him to sign a petition for a homeless shelter. He tries to keep up a conversation with her while working the remote, and she picks up on his distraction:
{{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.
{{quote| "Guy's nervous too, if it makes you feel better." (beat) "I slept with him last night to calm him down."
"[[Subverted Trope|That's okay, I poisoned your champagne.]]" }}
* ''Clients From Hell'' has many clients who obviously don't listen. Like [https://web.archive.org/web/20170207064643/http://clientsfromhell.net/post/106708831120/me-here-is-the-mockup-of-the-webpage-you-asked this one]. Or [https://web.archive.org/web/20160917015123/http://clientsfromhell.net/post/30470362812/me-heres-a-link-to-the-development-version-of this].
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'':
** A sequence from the episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" may or may not have been intended this way:
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[[Category:Alice and Bob]]
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