Have you ever pretended to be interested in a subject you have no interest in whatesoever to impress or placate a S.O.?

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if so, what?

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:00 (twenty-two years ago)

does fucking count?

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes dear, that's great.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Cthulu.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I AM too listening!

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Druids.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I can listen to you and have a nap at the sametime.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The Go-Betweens

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Politics. (Never *ever* again.)

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The Catholic religion.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Seriously, druids. (The Go-Betweens are great, Ally, you're mental.) "Yeah, geez, Stonehenge, holy crap! That's really fascinating, bend over, what was that thing about that place with the stuff again? Uh huh."

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

TEP DON'T TRY TO CHANGE ME!

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

ILX

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Applebee's.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

no.

oh wait, irish dancing.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

TEP DON'T TRY TO CHANGE ME!

I'm bringing the Pope to the twee party.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, shit, I watched Riverdance.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

What kind of freaks were you guys dating? Damn.

Anyway: Guy Ritchie films.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

No, but they have, they HAD TO; I mean, you know what kinda boring shit I talk about? I always felt bad for them.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

his life

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Musicals.

(xpost with Mary who just won EVERYTHING EVER, I'm buying you a drink for that it made me laugh so hard)

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I see Ally's Applebee's and raise her a Sign of the Beefcarver.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

no doubt, Mary I have coworkers looking over here now.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, Nickel makes a good point. Shit, I pick up new hobbies like a Velco hooker trawling through the city of thistle people. My SOs have had to tolerate my fascinations with Catholicism and Judaism (Ally and I could never date), various musics and movies and authors and cuisines, painting, the Sumerians, linguistics, Iceland, and Thailand. And that's just the bookshelf on my left.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I would have stood for Riverdance (tho I did see Phantom once, so who knows); she actually was an Irish dancer.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Mine was just overly invested in her watered-down-by-several-generations-of-complete-indifference Irish-Americanness.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

cuddling

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Food.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

their family

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

you know, i gave frank zappa a shot. really i did.

― BLACKOUT '03! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Ska, role playing games, irish freedom fighter movies, anime, "Carraba's Italian Grill", convertibles, the movie "Pi", swing dancing, Esquire magazine, the Larry Sanders show, The Afghan Whigs, Roky Erickson, Gordon Korman books... and so many more.

― Mandee, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

his paintings.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

This thread should be permanently preserved as an intra-ilx0r dating guide.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Citizen Kane.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i'll remember not to try to cuddle with horace.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

That doesn't count, no one's actually interested in Citizen Kane.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

WRONG.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway, dogs.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Roger Ebert is interested in Citizen Kane. Ergo, Ally was going out with Roger Ebert.

― Thy Lethal Zen Ned (Ned), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate you, Ned.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

vegetarianism, the grateful dead, social activism (to the point of actually becoming active), poodles.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

tori amos

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i actually sort of fear people do this to *me* since i'm interested in all kinds of boring stuff and tend to talk about it a lot whether or not people are interested.

that said, i'm not really interested in union organizing at all.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Jazz music, jewish culture, anime, buddhism, and the hardest one: U2's newer albums.

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Ally was going out with Roger Ebert.

In my mental map of this, their every date took place at Applebee's.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Roger Ebert is interested in Citizen Kane. Ergo, Ally was going out with Roger Ebert.

-- Thy Lethal Zen Ned (ne...) (webmail), August 20th, 2003 9:36 AM. (Ned) (later) (link)

Thy Logic Is Flawless.

(x-post)

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

no g/f or SO of mine has ever feigned an interest in frank zappa's music. that might be a good thing, considering some of the females who do like FZ's music.

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

other than moon unit ... but she's married!

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Now I know so much more about Jerry the Nipper.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, and hal hartley. but the funny thing is i actually grew to like him! aren't relationships great?

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 98 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Everyone else who listens to Gareth talk about himself, however, that's a different matter.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

(I heart Gareth.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I read a Jeanette Winterson novel once.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess my utter and complete lack of tolerance for Dungeons & Dragons, role-playing games in general, Rush, ultra-theatrical prog-rock in general, and, um, a bunch of other things that might get me into trouble with certain people around here (because I know there are those of you who would say, "B-b-but, I LOVE that") is because My Lone Ex-Boyfriend loved all of the above and talked about them at length. I definitely pretended to be interested during those conversations, then later on would doubt my own sanity. The only things he liked that I still like to this day are things I already liked, e.g. The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and politics. Oh yeah, and he was an atheist, but I didn't try to "convert" him or talk to him at length about my religious convictions.

On paper, it SO should not have worked. And it didn't. Ta-da.

― Jane Datsun (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

i can't imagine me ever doing this, i mighta & i forgot tho

― duane, Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

cooking, gardening, home improvement, movies

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

(home imp = the activity not the show)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

female orgasms

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:58 (twenty-two years ago)

(joking of course...I'm actually fascinated by them)

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to know who Mandee was trying to impress with the Gordon Korman books...

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 21 August 2003 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

This bad, but I think I have you all beat.

After 12 years of being a vegetarian, I started dating a hunter. We did a lot of hiking, camping and fishing in the summer which I love. But come fall and hunting season closed in we started doing a lot of staking out feeding and bedding areas. Once the season started I had to help clean the riffles and all sorts of crazy tasks. Well one morning he went off with his friends to bag some bucks. I stayed on the porch to drink coffee and read. Hours passed and eventually I heard shots echo though the valley. A couple hours later the boys come back with two whitetails. "Well come on " he say's "Time to learn how to gut and skin a deer". Now I get the feeling that a lot of you think chicken comes form the store, so I will spare details. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, if I think about it hard enough I can still smell it. I have skinned and tanned
( tanning is a whole other mess of details you really don't want to hear about) 8 deer in my life. It started as a wanting to share time together and even though we are not together anymore it ended up being a huge life lesson. Plus in a land where wool socks and campfires are turn on's. This makes me quite the catch.

― danielle g. (danielle g.), Thursday, 21 August 2003 05:57 (twenty-two years ago)

you know what would be a real funny answer to this qn, to me anyway? "heroin". it wouldnt be the truth tho.

― duane (24 hour troubleshooter), Thursday, 21 August 2003 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

& i'm pretty concerned with the truth

― duane (24 hour troubleshooter), Thursday, 21 August 2003 06:12 (twenty-two years ago)

can you handle the truth?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 21 August 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

i can handle anything if i can get high 1st

― duane (24 hour troubleshooter), Thursday, 21 August 2003 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

duane, now I am concerned about you. Are you ok?

― danielle g. (danielle g.), Thursday, 21 August 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Harry Fucking Potter.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 21 August 2003 07:11 (twenty-two years ago)

More feinging polite interest rather than 'oh how cool', but:

Ozric Tenticles - oh Lord God.
His collection of reptiles/ toads/ fish and things - I think that relationship was over when I laughed when one of his toads died from being egg bound.
The violin - squeaky noise
Five-a-side football - oh give it up.
What Alex Reece is really like as a person and a producer - side effect of dating junior league DJ.

seriously, though, has anyone else ever pretended to like something and then grown to actually like it? (esp. in the context of a relationship.) i suspect the line between those two states is blurrier than most would testify.

-- amateurist

PhD level maths currently. I will never, ever understand it (Toby may as well be speaking Hungarian), but it has good phrases and I like making up new meanings for them. (Shimura curves - doe-eyed desert houri, glittering in their temple and surrounded by hot winds. God only knows what they actually are.)

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 21 August 2003 07:36 (twenty-two years ago)

buses

I was 16 at the time, I'm sorry. I still get shivers when I hear the distinctive noise of a volvo bus breaking and I realise I still haven't forgotten it all.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 08:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Quentin Crisp — "A lifetime of disco music is a high price to pay for one's sexuality."

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Vicky, do you mean braking? Or as in taking a crowbar to the fucking thing?

(also, thank you for not going into your mid-20s boyfriend dislikes :))

(yet)

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Bizarrely, also Ozric Tentacles. (nothing to do with Vicky obv)

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, thanks Mark, I also pretended to find pedantry acceptable..

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I never did. But I ended up knowing all about comics through Dan even though I have made fun of them forever.

― Larcole (Nicole), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:39 (twenty-two years ago)

You can bloody talk, Victoria ;)

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 11:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Gordon Korman books win this thread.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 21 August 2003 12:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Honestly though, with the exception of one of my previous SOs and her going into excruciating detail over meaningless boring bookstore-job minutia, I've always been interested in just about everything they've ever talked to me about. I'm easy. Easy like Sunday morning.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 21 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very embarrased to admit I got sucked into the whole bus enthusiast thing, his dad owned a bus company, and one Xmas present was a huge blown up picture of the brand new bus they'd just bought. And I was pleased and hung it up, next to the photos of all their other buses.

It wasn't me, I was switched at 21, honest.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe I just admitted that after trying to pretend it never happened for the last 10 years.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Are these Volkswagen buses you're talking about?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

no proper buses, big passenger carrying ones.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Hippy :)

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/ilx/faversham.jpg

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.blue-bus.co.uk/PICTURES/csf160W.jpg
They've changed the livery, it used to be a very rich cream and dark blue.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

I never really pretended to like anything of hers, though I listened to her favorite band (Oasis) more because they reminded me of her. Earnest and cheesy, but it did the trick.

Tragically, the relationship broke apart quite possibly due to me being extremely honest and almost laughing at her when she said that Orange County is "a great movie."

Sometimes I've thought back and wondered if I did the right thing, and then I remember Orange County.

― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Monday, 2 August 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

surely this is done way more with prospective significant others?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 2 August 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Probably, but I like the way the question is currently framed better because there are implications such as "have you ever pretended to like X in order for the relationship to work/make them happy/whatever?" Those stories seem more interesting than pretending to be enthusiastic on a first date or some such thing.

― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Monday, 2 August 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess, to me though the pretending thing seems like a huge step. maybe my perspectives are skewed but if I say I like something I hate I know it truly must be love, haha!

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 2 August 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Human Traffic
giving head
the Postal Service
Jamahl singing Darkness covers on television
travel
really really crap rave music
current affairs

I'm a total sucker for this, I do it without thinking. I think I may be over polite.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Human Traffic
giving head
the Postal Service
Jamahl singing Darkness covers on television
travel
really really crap rave music
current affairs

Was all this for the same person? Better still - in the same night?

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Those awful "Ibiza/MinistryOfSound" rave collection CD's, I had to pretend I thought this music was 'okay' one night. My punishement was her bringing her complete collection to my house the following week and having to listen to them for 3 hours.

I have learnt my lesson.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

at least you didn't have to give head as well.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Was all this for the same person? Better still - in the same night?

Yes, in that order. Worst date of my life!

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:47 (twenty-one years ago)

at least you didn't have to give head as well.

I did offer

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:54 (twenty-one years ago)

she refused?

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

or declined, i mean?

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to have a bf who quizzed me on classical music. Now I appreciate it - I probably would have never listened to Mahler otherwise. When my now-husband and I started seeing each other, I feigned a higher threshold for horror movies and metal. Now I've come clean. I must say I'm glad to have been exposed to Dario Argento and bands like Opeth and Katatonia, though.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Monday, 2 August 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm just picturing Scott on your first date talking excitedly about horror movies and metal!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 August 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

And then giggling nervously.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 August 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

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