# What do you call a person who talk about a subject all over again ?



## claude23

Hi,



What do you call a person who talk about a subject all over again ? You keep telling this person that you understood but she keep repeating herself.


Thank you,

claude.


----------



## You little ripper!

You could say that _she is being tediously repetitive_ or that that _she keeps going on and on about the same thing ad nauseum_.


----------



## cirrus

If people keep going on about the same thing sometimes they are described as being like a scratched record.


----------



## You little ripper!

cirrus said:
			
		

> If people keep going on about the same thing sometimes they are described as being like a scratched record.


I'd forgotten about that expression. I wonder whether one could use a more updated version of that and say, _like a scratched cd._


----------



## cirrus

Wouldn't that be someone on speed with a particularly impressive stutter?


----------



## badgrammar

Redundant, repetitive...  You could also say "He keeps harping on the subject/keeps going on and on/is like a broken record".  I think there are lot of ways you can express this idea.


----------



## heidita

When someone goes on and on about something I always say :

You are such a drag!!!!


----------



## maxiogee

We sometimes refer to them as "a broken record" - which recalls the way a scratched record used to cause the stylus to play the same pice of a song over and over again.


----------



## cuchuflete

I would call such a person a bore, or perhaps a PITA.


----------



## cuchuflete

claude23 said:
			
		

> What do you call a person who talk*s* about a subject all over again ? You keep telling this person that you understood but she keeps repeating herself.



Claude,
Please take a little care with verb forms.  Your 
English is certainly good enough to avoid such
repetitive errors.


----------



## geve

Would it be adequate to use "ramble" (or "ramble on"?) in this context ?


----------



## timpeac

geve said:
			
		

> Would it be adequate to use "ramble" (or "ramble on"?) in this context ?


 
No - not really - to ramble on is to carry on talking on and on in one go long after what needed to be said was said. Here I think we are talking about someone who keeps saying the same thing again and again.

Actually - I can't be 100 per cent sure of the context. If Claude means that in the same speech this person says something then says it again and then again, all in one go, then yes your suggestion would work.


----------



## superjules

Claude, 
I've never heard 'he talks like a scratched record'(british?).
 But you hear a lot: You talk like a broken record>"
sj


----------



## roxcyn

Let's see if I can help:
1) She keeps repeating the same thing!
2) She keeps going on and on and on!
3) She sounds like a broken record
4) She is very repetitive.

And there are some others I cannot think of at the moment.


----------



## COLsass

I would call them "pedantic" if they're explaining something to you that you already get.  

I would call them a "pest" if they're just chatting non-stop.


----------



## cirrus

superjules said:
			
		

> Claude,
> I've never heard 'he talks like a scratched record'(british?).
> But you hear a lot: You talk like a broken record>"
> sj


 
It could well be a BE thing. It is even used as a recognised sales technique as a way of persuading people - you keep on repeating yourself. Similarly you come across it in interviews of suspects by the police.


----------



## nycphotography

If they go on and on, but more in an exhausting than a repetitive way, you can call them:

a windbag
a gasbag
a blowhard
overbearing
preachy


----------



## drei_lengua

claude23 said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> 
> 
> What do you call a person who talk about a subject all over again ? You keep telling this person that you understood but she keep repeating herself.
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> claude.


 
One could say motor-mouth.  This refers to someone who will not quit talking even though different subjects are discussed.  I guess that if a person keeps repeating something they would also qualify as a motor-mouth because they won't shut up.

drei


----------



## la reine victoria

From what I've just been told by someone I would say  'Going over old ground.'


LRV


----------



## la reine victoria

Someone who says the same thing over and over again *reiterates*.  They can be called *reiterative*.  This is not an adjective in common use.  This is not an adjective in common use.  This is not an adjective in common use.


LRV
*reiterating*


----------



## cuchuflete

Fascinating. Commoners do not use such words. Must be in the realm of the royal, iteratively speaking--something that happens when Royals regale us with repititions, and repeatedly.


----------



## rsweet

Been there, heard that!


----------



## la reine victoria

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Fascinating. Commoners do not use such words. Must be in the realm of the royal, iteratively speaking--something that happens when Royals regale us with repititions, and repeatedly.


 

You look so dashing in your new 'evening dress' avatar Cuchu that, just for you, I shall cease to *ingeminate.   *


LRV


----------



## maxiogee

You could also call this _someone_ a slow learner!


----------



## panjandrum

Ingeminate, for those of us who can't recall, precisely, what it might mean:


> To utter (a sound) twice or oftener; to repeat, reiterate (a word, statement, etc.), usually for the purpose of being emphatic or impressive; to emphasize (a fact) by repetition. (Freq. in 17th c.; now chiefly used in echoes of quot. 1647).


*OED*


----------



## cuchuflete

And, for those of us who cannot remember where we left our boots, let alone "echoes of quot.", 


Panj will have another OED iteration for us one of these fine days.


----------



## panjandrum

I think I said:


			
				panjandrum said:
			
		

> Ingeminate, for those of us who can't recall, precisely, what it might mean:
> 
> 
> 
> To utter (a sound) twice or oftener; to repeat, reiterate (a word, statement, etc.), usually for the purpose of being emphatic or impressive; to emphasize (a fact) by repetition. (Freq. in 17th c.; now chiefly used in echoes of quot. 1647).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *OED*
Click to expand...


----------



## cuchuflete

Brilliant!

Not only did you reiterate, but also echoed of quot. all at once!


----------



## panjandrum

I'm not sure if I ingeminated or reiterated, although all this ...ated reminds me of an incongruous thingywhatsit that I'll post in a minute.

My ingemination was a holding reiteration of my previous post, while I went to find the 1647 quot. in the *OED*.

*1647* CLARENDON _Hist. Reb._ VII. §233 [Falkland] often, after a deep silence and frequent sighs, would with a shrill and sad accent, *ingeminate* the word, Peace, Peace. 

Now, does that feel better?


----------



## la reine victoria

panjandrum said:
			
		

> I'm not sure if I ingeminated or reiterated, although all this ...ated reminds me of an incongruous thingywhatsit that I'll post in a minute.
> 
> My ingemination was a holding reiteration of my previous post, while I went to find the 1647 quot. in the *OED*.
> 
> *1647* CLARENDON _Hist. Reb._ VII. §233 [Falkland] often, after a deep silence and frequent sighs, would with a shrill and sad accent, *ingeminate* the word, Peace, Peace.
> 
> Now, does that feel better?


 

Makes me feel very peaceful Panj. I've recently been full of deep silences and frequent sighs. Now all I need do is ingeminate the word 'Peace' and I'm suddenly bathed in it. You're a real tonic - far better than the quack nerve pills I've been ingesting.  Thank you.

If I may, since it's a big day for you tomorrow, here's my greeting for a happy one. For Maxiogee too.


LRV


----------



## badgrammar

One of my favorite ways to express a situation where someone is talking non-stop (which usually, if not always, involves some degree of redundancy) is:

"yada yada yada yada yada...."

As in "Oh my God.  She never shuts up.  It's just (like) yada yada yada yada yada....!"

This replaces the more old-fashioned and somewhat less flavorful "blablabla bla blablabla..."

This does not, however, stress the idea of a monologue that repeats itself endlessly, it is more along the lines of the "motor mouth".

Which reminds me of a term my mother would use every once in a while, when she encountered individuals who not only never stopped talking but also said things that she did not particularly want to hear.  SHe would say he/she has "diarreah of the mouth".  A horrible expression, but sometimes applicable.


----------



## la reine victoria

> Originally posted be *Badgrammar*
> Which reminds me of a term my mother would use every once in a while, when she encountered individuals who not only never stopped talking but also said things that she did not particularly want to hear. SHe would say he/she has "diarreah of the mouth". A horrible expression, but sometimes applicable.


 


In the UK we call it 'verbal diarrohea'.  


LRV


----------



## badgrammar

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> In the UK we call it 'verbal diarrohea'.
> 
> 
> LRV



And you most likely use the correct spelling of that unsavo(u)ry word, as well!


----------



## You little ripper!

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> In the UK we call it 'verbal diarrohea'.
> 
> 
> LRV


We call it that in Australia. 
I remember reading in an Iridology book written by a woman who had a Scottish background that her mother always told her _to keep her bowels open and her mouth shut._


----------



## maxiogee

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> Someone who says the same thing over and over again *reiterates*.
> *reiterating*



An interesting word that. Not many people use it correctly.
I am cold - I have said it.
I am cold - I have iterated it.
I am cold - I have reiterated it.

To reiterate only applies to the third and subsequent utterances of something. It is usually used for the second and subsequent.


----------



## cameo

I once saw "gusher" used to mean a long-winded speaker. I wonder if that's a "standard usage" (do many people use it)?


----------



## cirrus

Gushing is used.  It isn't necessarily someone who repeats themselves, just someone who says more than they need to.  Some people say less when they are nervous,  whereas others just can't shut up: they are gushers.  It is also used with people who come out with lots of sentimental stuff that they probably don't mean that sincerely.


----------



## Babegurl

*well you could say they are reapeating themselves over and over again*
* or to be funny you can say they are being a repeat box *
*dats wat i say to my grandpa*

*cip *
*babegurl*


----------



## maxiogee

Babegurl said:
			
		

> *Well you could say they are reapeating themselves over and over again.*
> *Or, to be funny, you can say they are being a repeat box. *
> *Thats what I say to my grandpa.*
> 
> *cip (please spell this out)*
> *babegurl*



Welcome babegurl
We use correct English grammar and punctuation here.
This is because we have a lot of non-native speakers.
You might have a read of the forum rules before you post anything.


----------



## Mizz_Kimness

It is as if, they would be repetative, would it not? I believe so, because if you repeat something over and over again, then it does sounds like a broken record, which leads to repetativeness, and then it is just plain annoying after that!


----------



## la reine victoria

Mizz_Kimness said:
			
		

> It is as if, they would be *repetative*, would it not? I believe so, because if you repeat something over and over again, then it does sounds like a broken record, which leads to *repetativeness*, and then it is just plain annoying after that!


 
A small spelling correction if I may, Mizz Kimness. Please see Maxiogee's post above.

*repetitive, repetitiveness*


La Reine V


----------



## Workers First

claude23 said:


> Hi,
> 
> 
> 
> What do you call a person who talk about a subject all over again ? You keep telling this person that you understood but she keep repeating herself.
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> claude.



Perhaps you might suggest the term "echolalia" and see where that takes you.


----------

