don't you hate it when people ask you a question, and then while you're answering it.........

[Gato Moteado]

.....they ask another question or maybe several questions. they don't even let you finish your answer and they're clearly not listening because they just ask more questions while you're talking.

i find this behavior rude, though i'm sure these people just have some weird attention span problem or something. how do you deal with these kinds of people?

[ohiosmith]

1. I make sure their bodies are never found.

[gratuitous]

2. I deal with it by not going on the talking chucklehead shows

I don't know if this sort of rudeness started with Crossfire or some of those other programs, but they have certainly popularized the rat-a-tat-tat question format. It's almost as if some people are more interested in posing their clever questions than in getting any response. Almost.

[Gato Moteado]

3. and these aren't people that are necessarily political or watch those talking head shows.......

.....they just seem interested in something and will ask a question and then while you're answering them they start asking more questions.

[Scuba]

5. Almost?

[WhoIsNumberNone]

4. Yes

An old friend of mine caught conservatism and used to drunk dial me whenever he got a bug up his ass about the latest liberal outrage. I would rarely get two sentences into my rebuttal before he'd interrupt me with some other outlandish tangent, and the cycle would repeat itself.

When this conversational style of {outlandish claim > interrupt > repeat} became clear to me I started telling him to shut up and let me talk, but I've noticed it in less ham-handed forms in most of my conservative friends.

If nothing else it's made me more considerate about letting people talk when it's their turn. And less polite when they interrupt me during mine.

[kayakjohnny]

6. I either stop dead and let a long awkward silence happen, or I slowly answer the first question

as normally as I can.

Kind of throws their cadence off and never seems appreciated.

And what you're describing is certainly irritating as hell.

It's as if they think they'll lose their whole train of thought if they don't keep machine-gunning the questions at ya.

Bothersome. Yes, bothersome.

[Rex]

7. Got a solution to that and it always works for me.

I use a visual cue (I raise my hand in a stop motion) I ALWAYS stop them and say, 'wait you are getting ahead of yourself, let me answer the first question - FIRST'.

Works like a charm.

[Bruce Wayne]

8. It's called "teaching" I believe.

The problem can be fixed by taping their mouths shut until you're ready for follow ups.

[HeiressofBickworth]

9. I think it happens most

when your answer isn't what they want to hear.

They've adopted the Faux Noise method. They don't want a "conversation"; they want an opportunity to spew their nonsense while getting the thrill of choking you off.

I'd avoid them entirely.