Hearing the subject but going off topic

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Something I find annoying and quite embarrassing about myself.

I would be in a situation at work where I would hear a conversation and want to join in so I keep to the subject at hand or what I think is the subject at hand. Then I would say something and I get a puzzling look. Then I think about what I have said and realise even though it was the same subject it was also off topic.

I do find it really hard to keep in topic with what people talk about it is so frustrating and embarrassing. Sometimes I think it is best to keep quiet which is what I prefer to do. I find it more comfortable keeping silent.

Autistics are known for going off topic.
At times it is caused by our executive functioning disorder, so I have read/heard somewhere.

Evidence, WP threads.

For me it's because I'm a highly associative thinker. If someone mentions a lamp, and I see a nearby lamp, then I think about light, I start talking about light. If I focus on the conversation I don't have this problem, but sometimes when I'm tired it's especially pronounced.

Yep...<chuckle>
I used to be very bad, but these days I do work at staying on topic.

I can ever so much relate to that. Years ago when I was in my very early 20's, I was inbetween jobs and went to sign on at the jobcentre. Now they had just moved from having all information feom paperwork files to entering them onto computers, so I had to give permission for them to store my information on the computer. Was somewhere around the early 1990's. Now the lady who interviewed me started to ask about my hobbies. Great! Model trains and railways etc. I can talk about them all day!
Well the conversation left both myself and the poor lady puzzled. She asked if I did any voluntry work so I told her when I helped out at the preserved railway. The model railways bit was on my mind. I don't know if she changed the conversation and at what point as I was referring to my experience with my hobby and she was asking what experience I had.. She was prompting me. I rememer the conversation going along the lines of buildings. I said I made a station building, and was askingnif it involved other skills. So I told her about painting the buildings etc, and electrical work (Referring to model railway wiring etc) and things like that. Then she asked "What about people? Do you do anything with people?" I was a little puzzled at first. I said something like "I paint them and glue them onto the platforms" which she seemed to look puzzled and slow down on typing what I was saying...
The interview ended with both of us a little puzzled. It then dawned on me. She was referring to the real job experiences and I was referring to model railways. Well, that computer must habe had me as one of worlds most experienced people at just 21 years old!
I didn't habe the heart to go back and sort it out. I found being interviewed by jobcentre staff was enough to cope with despite how kind she was.

I notice that some people want to stay on one very narrow issue and they get mad if I say something related to the topic but don't stay exactly on that one issue. ("I'm not talking about X; I'm talking about Y.") It's really embarrassing to me. I want to bite my tongue.

Here in Wales there is a custom to give a background story before talking about someone or something... Like "You know... Dai. The man who was knocked down when he tried to cross the road when he was six years old and he wasn't the same again..." That sort of thing, so when I talk and give out details to the extreme going off so many tangents I talk right round the world and back, it is considered almost normal here in Wales! Though I am well known to do this to the extreme. Haha!
Would you believe it, that rihht up to my early 20's and even now when in groups of people I tend to be very shy and quiet. However, once I am in a smaller group and I am confident, you try to get a word in! Especially if I start talking about trains... Which I seem to be able to add to almost any conversation so naturally no one notices they are talking about trains again! Haha! You can tell I like trains! Always have from in my pram onwards! Hardly a day goes by without trains.... Hahaha! Mind you, though I have train related designs going round my head, I don't dream of trains... When I was in school someone who also liked trains but I liked the models more and he liked real ones... He asked me if I dreamed trains as he did and was having train nightmares!
Oops. I am off on a tangent again... Sorry!