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

{{trope}}

'''Father''': That's nice...|''[[Amelie]]''}}

** 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:

"That's interesting!" said Christine, who was looking at the mirror. "Do you think my hair looks right?!" }}

* In one of the ''[[Confessions of Georgia Nicolson]]'' books, Georgia's mother is clearly not listening to her and Georgia says "Something very interesting happened to me last night. I slit my throat and my head fell off. Have you seen it?"

* Variation in ''[[Thursday Next|The Eyre Affair]]'': Thursday and her brother are speaking to an elderly and mostly deaf woman, and when Thursday realizes this she and her brother start saying increasingly obscene things about each other, to absolutely no reaction other than "that's nice, dear."

* From the ''[[Star Trek]]'' expanded-universe novel ''Q-Squared'' (and paraphrased from memory):

{{spoiler|Trelane}}: "...I thought it was metaphorical." }}

* In ''[[East of Eden]]'', Sam throws in two lines of nonsense during a story. Adam and Cathy's lack of reaction confirm that they aren't listening.

* A very dark example in ''[[American Psycho]]''. Bateman often reveals his psychotic nature to friends by saying things such as "I like to dissect girls. Did you know that I'm utterly insane?" They either are not listening or think he is someone else.

* A brief flashback sequence in ''[[Audrey Wait]]'' gives us this exchange that happened before the break up.

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

* The famous ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' fanfic ''[[Bag Enders]]'' features Aragorn trying to get Legolas' attention:

[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"I've told Celeborn he can come live with us. Permanently."]]<br />

"You what?"<br />

"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:

'''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.]]<br />

'''Wammy''': ''[Looks up from his paperwork and blinks.]'' What about my son? }}

* ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' does it a few times.

** From the episode "Jack the Writer".

** Done again in "Black Tie":

'''Jenna''':No, you're a good friend and thank you. }}

* The ''[[Yes Prime Minister]]'' episode ''Man Overboard'' features this; Sir Humphrey Appleby stays behind after a Cabinet meeting to voice his concerns over Jim Hacker's latest scheme to relocate defence establishment to the North of England. Hacker, however, is completely absorbed by his notes, leading Sir Humphrey to facetiously remark that "There's been an earthquake in Hazlemere." Hacker responds with a disinterested "Good".

* ''[[The X-Files]]'':

** A poorly remembered paraphrase:

** And from the season 4 episode "Home," Scully tries to talk to Mulder about a case while he's tossing a baseball around on the field:

'''Scully''': Meanwhile, I've quit the F.B.I. and become a spokesperson for the Ab-Roller. }}

** And from the season 7 episode "All Things", Mulder tries to talk to Scully about crop circles in England, while she crunches on a salad and ignores him.

* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'': the guys are busy playing ''[[Halo]]'' when Penny comes in with some of her friends and asks the guys if they want to have sex with them. When no one responds, Penny turns to her friends and says, "Told ya." After she leaves, Leonard asks if anyone heard something.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

'''Giles''': (not listening) Yes, uh, quite, quite, yes. }}

* Flipped slightly in ''[[Cheers]]'':

'''Frasier''' (drowsily): Yes, please continue. (fully wakes up) I hate it when you do that. }}

** Funny in Hindsight as His catchphrase in the Spin off is "I'm Listening"

* ''[[Seinfeld]]'': Played with in that George appears to be listening but misses the point of Elaine's words.

George: Have a good time. }}

* 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.