Should certain topics be kept off the table? (whilst eating)

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My parents are two rather strange individuals at times.

Especially when it comes to conversations at tea/dinner. It is not uncommon for rather morbid and/or serious topics to come up out of nowhere. Details are often not spared.

This is unfortunate if you have a rather visual mind, (I do), as topics such as; leg operations, severe accidents, death, cannibalism, disease, the mating habits of particular insects, and discussion on poop or blood come up.

Somehow I doubt this is all that common, but maybe I would be surprised. I sometimes ask them to refrain from such topics until I have done eating, then usually I get called overly-sensitive.

The one positive side to my parents' conversations is that they are typically far from dull, and you never know where they will go. One moment you are talking about the asexual nature of greenflies, the next you are discussing quantum tunnelling.

I am curious to know people's thoughts on this. Do you think there is a time and place for certain subjects, or should it be acceptable to talk about them regardless?

My opinion is that there is a time and place for certain subjects, and I doubt most people would want to hear about operations, diseases or similar topics when they eat.

It depends on the people involved, really. It's generally considered polite not to discuss the subjects you mentioned while people are eating, but if everyone present is okay with it, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. In this case, I think your parents should respect the fact that such topics put you off from eating and try to save them for another time. For what it's worth, I wouldn't want things like that being discussed while I was eating, either, because I also would be unable not to picture it in my mind. But I've also seen, for example, people who work in the medical field say that they'll discuss all kinds of body-related things in great detail over dinner, and as long as it isn't bothering anyone, I see no reason not to.

Most people I know don't like others talking about certain things whilst eating. I don't mind some gross things being brought up, as long as the subject of nose mucus doesn't get mentioned, because for some reason that is the only bodily function that makes me wants to gag whenever mentioned.

But if somebody said something like "I had diarrhea today" or something, it wouldn't bother me, unless they went into detail. But just saying they had diarrhea wouldn't put me off my food, but most people that I know would respond as "ew, don't say that, I'm eating!"

It's probably best to spare us the gory details while we have our dinner.

My parents never talk about those kind of things while we're eating together. It's usually whatever boring, mundane stuff is going on in their lives while I sit there trying to think to think of something interesting to talk to them about.

Maybe when people talk about gross kinds of things they're secretly hoping some poor sucker will lose their appetite and leave their share of the food for the gross-talker to eat.

I'm usually fine as long as no one mentions vomiting, which makes me want to go straight home and jump right into a bathtub full of iodine.

My opinion is just don't talk when eating. Solves a lot of problems.

We just enjoy our mutual presence and listen to the television.

There is a family member that is very sensible to certain topics as discussed in the first post while eating. I'm sensible as well, but not so much.

Sometimes, my parents talk about random facts about their past, talk about the television program, discuss about daily life, and might criticise me because I'm not an avid eater.

My family members are all similar to each other in the sense that we don't talk much while eating. I speak much less than the rest of the family members because I enjoy daydreaming while eating. I daydream most of the day and I find it difficult to stop doing it automatically.

I usually dislike being seen eating, so I always try to eat before or after the rest of the family members finish eating their meal, but it is something I have never told them or to anyone. Each family member has their own life and usually we can't eat at the same time all together. I also dislike being seen eating outside because I have difficulty eating with both hands, so when I try to eat with both hands to not be seen as rude, it tires me and it seems alien for me.

There is a family member that usually reads while eating.

That is why when I eat outside I find it weird that people seem to be taking more attention to each other than enjoying the food. I always eat in the secluded area. The presence of strangers, especially, while eating, overwhelms me.

I find when I eat at my parents' house these days house much of it is in silence. I like to say that's only because the meal is so delicious that talking is a distraction.

I HATE having the TV on while we eat. MY dad is hard of hearing so the TV is usually turned up really high, and there's often something super-violent or disturbing going on in whatever program is airing. My dad watches a lot of action movies. I guess in Hollywood "action" means someone being horribly killed every two or three minutes.

Also when we have dessert, my dad and I like to pretend we hated it even though we polished it right off.

If we have a roast turkey, dad likes to claim he hunted and caught the bird himself.

Sue: "I hate Sam's guts!"
Bob: "Then just eat the vegetables."

I remember Thanksgiving dinner 9 years ago. We were all eating and my sister was talking about the contents of my niece's diapers at the dinner table. I think certain topics should be kept off the dinner table.

Another way to be gross is to say the food you're eating looks like something disgusting, even (or especially) if it's a food people usually like. For example:

Spaghetti - bloody worms.

Tuna fish sandwiches - cat barf.

Hard-boiled eggs - eyeballs

Rice - Maggots

Tapioca pudding - fish eyes, or the fat cells that spilled out of that Tauntaun when it was gutted in Star Wars.

The word "maggots" absolutely disgusts me. I agree that it shouldn't be said at the table.