What do you do if some one asks you why you don't talk a lot

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I have had this question asked to me a thousand times and I just don't know how to answer it. I don't want to tell them I'm autistic, because they mite start judging me, plus I don't want to explain what it is either, because I just don't like to talk about it.

"I keeping my mouth shut so I can listen better, something that you should try doing too. "

Last edited by Ganondox on 15 Dec 2011, 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Well, why do you talk so much?"

One thing I used to tell people, "I'm not quiet, you're just loud."

That doesn't happen to me. I talk entirely too much. I tend to overexplain things. I also try and keep conversation going.

While I am rather talkative around my friends, around anyone else, I am not, even family (allthough it has to do with the fact that most of my family identifies itself with values that are so contrary to what I believe in that I simply don't want to talk to them), I usually say that I only talk when I have something worth talking about.

"I'm just quiet."

It works well enough I suppose.

When I'd just moved to this house, a neighbour, whom I had only spoken to a couple of times, said that he thought it was strange that my Mum was so friendly, yet I didn't say much. I took from this comparison with my 'friendly' Mum that he meant I was unfriendly. I thought this was a really horrible thing to say to someone, especially a new acquaintance. Maybe I don't speak a lot, but I'm not unfriendly or antisocial (and on a one to one or one to two basis with people I'm comfortable with, I'm a chatterbox). I tried to make light of his comment, but it was hurtful. However, I later discovered that he had serious mental health problems and trashed his own house. So, I don't think I should take anything he said to heart.

"Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Not that I'm calling you a fool, it's just a clever quote.

I just say (or feel like saying), ''well every time I try to join in, everyone gives me funny looks as if to say 'we weren't talking to you'. It's very off-putting.''

That usually works on me. Each time I go by this saying, I seem to fit in better, simply because people will just assume I'm just shy and so will give me a second chance, whereas if I just walk into somewhere with strangers and start talking about probably nothing, I usually blow it before I even got to know anyone, and they will just assume I'm weird and not give me any chance.

Last edited by Joe90 on 15 Dec 2011, 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I usually just shrug & say "I don't have anything to say" or "I'm not much of a talker"... which usually prompts the other person to laugh & continue to try to talk to me about every possible subject of interest to them.

It hasn't happened since high school, which I'm grateful for.
If someone asked me today, at 34 years old, I think I might get a kick out of staring at them blankly and not answering, until they walked away.
It's mean though right? right. But I've heard my fair share of "why don't you ever speak?" or even worse, people asking the person I'm with why I don't speak. It's not a polite or nice thing to ask in my opinion.

"Don't make me talk. You wouldn't like me when I talk"

"i have nothing relevant to say"

I say I don't know.

In reality, I'm not really outgoing, ever since being called the R word in JHS countless number of times, I said to myself, when I graduated JHS I was gonna be as low key as possible.


If I was a NT, I'd love to be a quiet, low key person that could chat it up with anybody about any subject when necessary or had to.

"I don't know. Why don't you ever shut up?"

I have never found an answer to this one. Most of the people who ask me why I'm quiet don't really wait to hear an answer anyway, they just keep talking. How am I supposed to get a word in edgewise?