7 Phrases That Are Great Signs It's Time to Stop Talking

7 "I'm Not a Racist, But ..."

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, because everybody knows that this phrase is inevitably followed up by something extremely racist. I do want to point out that it's pretty much impossible for any non-racist statement to follow this phrase just because of the way it's structured.

You'd have to either follow it with something that makes no sense, like "I'm not a racist, but I think black people and white people can both excel intellectually," or note a difference so neutral that there is no reason to point it out, like "I'm not a racist, but black people generally have darker skin than white people."

I guess occasionally someone wants to talk about the crime rate or income disparities between races and wants to throw in some caveats before they wade into a touchy subject, but anyone sensitive enough to discuss something that nuanced usually isn't going to toss out their entire viewpoint in half a sentence (the half after "I'm not a racist"). Anyone able to talk about a complex hot-button issue in an appropriate way has better and more specific caveats than the shitty old "I'm not a racist," which is apparently a good marker for illiteracy as well as racism.

By the way, the above screenshots come courtesy of I'm Not Racist, But ..., which is one of several blogs that track this phrase across the Internet, showing that despite how well-known and mocked it is, you still can't swing a dead LOLcat without hitting an "I'm not a racist but" tweet or comment.

6 "I'm Not Afraid of What Anyone Thinks"

Not being afraid of what other people think is a good thing. Constantly telling other people this, however, is a red flag, signalling that you're not focused on the vital truths you are championing so much as the reactions you get from telling them.

Other warning phrases along the same lines include "I tell it like it is" and "I'm outspoken and opinionated, and it might rub some people the wrong way." When you convince yourself that you are this TV character description, it goes a long way toward shielding yourself from finding out that you are wrong or said something stupid by allowing you to frame it as a bunch of closed-minded prudes/nerds/bourgeoisie being shocked that you are such a colorful individual. Of course they are calling you dumb because they can't handle your attitude, not because you claimed that horses were invented in the 1800s.

You get two kinds of statements out of this person. One, you get cliches they repeat from other people, which were possibly provocative and clever upon their first use, like the hoary "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle," or a mangled paraphrase from Douglas Adams that they don't really understand. Basically, it's an attempt to copy the edginess of someone smarter and more original than they are with the effectiveness of a preliterate child copying the Declaration of Independence.

Take a look at this firecracker.

I wonder what kind of monocle-popping in-your-face sass I can expect out of this one!

Statements truly worthy of noted shockmeister Stuart Smalley.

In addition to advice you can find in your grandmother's needlepoint, you'll also find this type:

Oh boy, I bet this one's going to be a real live wire. I wonder what kind of crazy and offensive tweets we're going to get on this account.

So they promise a lot, but quite often deliver poorly remembered quotes from provocateurs who are now deceased, advice found on Precious Moments bookmarks, and AOL chat room filler.

5 "Plato's Allegory of the Cave"

This phrase usually sets off all the alarms that you are talking to someone who (1) has just discovered philosophy and (2) doesn't think anyone else has. Ninety-nine percent of the time when someone brings up the Allegory of the Cave, they are using it as a metaphor to talk about people living in a world where they only have a limited perception of reality, like the Matrix, and how some people get a chance to get outside of that and see all of reality, like Neo going outside the Matrix.

First of all, there is a lot more to the Allegory of the Cave than that simple overview, stuff that is mostly interesting to people who are really interested in philosophy, which doesn't include me. It also doesn't include most of the people who bring up the allegory. Secondly, given the wide popularity of The Matrix, that movie is a much simpler analogy to use for anyone who wants to talk about limited versions of reality.

I guess it depends on whether the priority is on getting your listeners to quickly understand your arguments so you can move on to make your point without having to retell and explain a story about caves and fires and shadows that some of them probably won't be familiar with, or whether the priority is to let people know that you read Plato once.

Also a warning flag is anyone who brings up the Prisoner's Dilemma game theory scenario, which in theory is often relevant as a useful insight into discussing how people make decisions, but in practice is almost always inserted clumsily as a badge of behavioral expertise or something. Ten percent of the time people bring it up because they think it is relevant, and 90 percent of the time because they just read about it in Discover Magazine or Mental Floss.

There's always the possibility that someone who brings up one of these things genuinely feels it's the best tool to explain what they're getting at, but once they start to pile up, there can be no mistake. If someone mentions the Allegory of the Cave, the Prisoner's Dilemma, Occam's razor and Schroedinger's cat in the course of their argument, just drop everything and get the hell out of there before they start telling you the fable about the scorpion and the frog.

4 "Self-Diagnosed"

Self-diagnosed people can be at best the cause of an awkward social situation and at worst dangerous. If you're suffering from severe depression, the last thing you want is advice from people with mild mood swings who have diagnosed themselves as bipolar and tell you to avoid therapy and medication and just think more positive thoughts.

Even if you don't have the condition and you're just reading or listening for curiosity's sake, there's not really anything to be learned from people who are certain they have ADHD or Asperger's no matter what those lying doctors say, unless you want to learn what they imagine life is like for an ADHD or Asperger's sufferer.

Well-meaning websites like WebMD sometimes make things worse by printing bullet-point lists of symptoms for various conditions. The intent is for you to see if you have a bunch of symptoms, and if so, go to a professional and get officially diagnosed and then treated. But I guess there's a bit of human nature that makes many of us want to treat it like a Seventeen magazine quiz where we add up points (1 point for A, 2 points for B, 3 points for C ...), and if we score 15 or more, we're schizophrenic!

Sure, sometimes it may be helpful for individuals to get coping tips from others with similar problems without going through intimidating medical professionals, but most people who like to speak at length about their self-diagnosis to strangers aren't just looking for help, they're looking to give it, including explaining authoritatively what the condition does or doesn't involve, saying what everyone in the same condition should do and even prescribing drugs sometimes.

Even if you believe in the helpfulness of Internet psychological self-diagnosis, I'm sure we can at least agree that someone self-diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma should be immediately sent to a doctor where they can hopefully find out it's just a cold. And that you should know just from the title that this one is going to be weird:

3 "Yes, I'm a Female Gamer, Believe It or Not"

You can substitute almost anything for "gamer," except "man," maybe, because you have to admit that would actually be inherently surprising. In this day and age, millions of girls play games, half the population of the Internet is female and we've been riveting things since the 1940s, so it's a little outdated to burst into anywhere and reassure people that their eyes are not lying to them, they are in fact seeing a woman in this masculine environment. Female CEOs and oil rig workers may be very rare, but people are aware they can exist and aren't going to do a cartoon double-take upon seeing one.

Most of the time when you see/hear this phrase, it's in response to a question that isn't being asked. It appears in people's signatures, taglines, profiles and other places where it's theoretically the first introduction you have to a person. It's like being introduced to someone at a social function and having them shout, "Damn right I'm female! No need to adjust your glasses!" before you have even said hi.

It can be a little insulting that they assume everyone they run into is going to have that question in their heads -- "Can it really be a woman I am seeing?" -- but OK, let's say they're in a particularly sheltered environment full of males and that question actually comes up a lot. The trouble is that they rarely stop at answering this first unasked question and usually come up with an entire imaginary interview you are giving them, which they are happy to provide anticipated answers for.

Sure, maybe some people have asked them some of these questions, but I find it hard to imagine someone asking, "Will you put up with my pervertedness?"

Also, I don't know if this applies to other games, but in my time in World of Warcraft, I noticed that anyone who goes out of their way to introduce themselves with "Yeah, I'm a girl, believe it or not!" is a terrible player. I'm not saying girls are terrible players, I'm saying girls whose first statement upon meeting anyone is "I'm a girl! Hold on to your monocle!" is terrible. And if someone brings it up as their first statement, it is inevitable they will bring it up many, many times in the future, including sometimes as an excuse when they get everyone killed ("lol I guess my boobs got in the way!").

Here's a good example of someone who appears to be terrible at Skyrim, somehow.

And the response:

There's nothing more deflating to one of these types than a female in the same field who is actually good at it.

2 "Fwd: FW: FW: ..."

If you get an email whose subject line starts with five or more variations of "FW:" it's pretty safe to put that right in the trash, the only danger being your mom getting mad at you later for not replying to her important email about pomegranate juice curing cancer or something.

Email forwards once were the hot way of spreading things around virally but are now pretty much obsolete among anyone under age 40. Now Twitter and Facebook and message boards are the way most Internet users get linked to funny pictures of cats and shocking news stories, leaving email forwards with precious little to do. An email forward is almost guaranteed to contain (1) A hoax, (2) a virus or (3) a trite inspirational story with a lot of capital letters, probably.

A scan of email-forward hoaxes reveals a bunch of subjects that mostly moms would be interested in, like how lemons can cure cancer, fake Amber Alerts and fake charities for sick children.

That last one sounds exciting, but actually links to this slightly creepy personalized tampon ad thing, after several lines of talking about how amazing it is. Basically, the more excited moms are about passing this along (the number of "FW:"s), the less worthwhile to you it is going to be.

On the other hand, I guess you could read them to get some insight into the mom mind and craft some strategic emails your mom is certain to take seriously.

1 "Phbbbbbbbttt-pt-pt-ptt"

If you hear this from anyone, it is probably a fart, and you should clear the area.

For more from Christina, check out 5 Topics Guaranteed to Elicit (Condescending) Advice and 5 Reasons Women Are As Shallow As Men (According to Science).