Do anyone else's parents do this?

[Pliyo]

Sample:

DM: Oooh, do you know who I bumped into in town the other day? Janet Smith.

Me: Who?

DM: Janet Smith, you remember, who used to go to church with Grandma.

Me: blank stare

DM: proceeds to give me full details of X thing that happened to Janet Smith recently despite the fact I have literally no idea who this person is

Another sample:

Unfamiliar car parks in street

DF: <leaps up like meerkat and rushes to window> who does that belong to then? Never seen that car before?

cue him and DM spending the next hour discussing the owner of the car and who it might belong to

They’re absolutely classic anecdotes so yes. I’d imagine there are thousands of threads on Mumsnet of people complaining about the same traits in their parents.

Oh my gran loves to tell me long, involved stories about people I've never met and have absolutely no investment in. I've just decided to treat it like my own personal "The Archers" and follow along. Can't wait to see what Gabbie has been up to this week, she's a card. Whoever she is.

Mam doesn't do it yet but I'm sure she will one day as they're very alike.

No but I get the "that bloke went to what's it called the other week and picked up some thingy" 🙄 on a weekly basis

Don’t worry @Pliyo you might find yourself doing that in the future!

Not my parents, but my nan used to do this. She lived to 102, so had lots of memories!

Mum and I would visit her and she'd tell us she'd had a call from Marjorie- 'You remember, from Springtown, she ran the shop there'. Mum would then remind her that she was only 2 when they lived in Springtown and had never met Margorie!

Thinking back it does put a smile on my face 😊

Yes, the first bit my mother used to do, and I find myself now and then doing the same but usually ask DC if they know/remember the person first. And only if I think it's something interesting to them. (sometimes it's not) 😕
Also, I used to know a Janet Smith, funnily enough. She was lovely.

My in laws don't do it!

Classic example of the genre: many years ago, my gran started telling me an involved story about a friend of hers who went to her son's wedding....I didn't know the friend or the son but listened along. Finally came to the line "and the bride was the actress from Titanic". To be honest, I would have led with that!

Haha yes but only my DM does both of these things. My DF almost never talks about anyone else, he's about as far from a gossip as you can get, which is the polar opposite of DM!

This kind of thing?

"Remember Jean?"
"No?"
"Yes you do, Jean who used to live next door to that woman who worked in the chemists with that lady whose daughter married that boy - ooh whatsisname... no, it's gone, but he was in your infants class at school."
"Can't say I remember, no."
"Yes you do - ginger hair."
"Oh, erm... Johnny Smith? He had ginger hair."
"No, not him, Jean! You must remember her, she gave you a tissue on the bus once when you needed to blow your nose. Has a poodle."
"No, I don't remember her, sorry. What about her?"
"She's dead."
"Jean? Oh dear, that's a shame, were you fond of her?"
"No, not Jean, of course she's not dead - I meant the dog!"

Yes. My parents' street is in the middle of having New Bins and this is a tremendous cause for concern (apparently).

There's something quite endearing about it in a way.

My late DM used to obsess about the next door neighbours' cars.

Yes my mum recently rang me and said "guess what'.

I said 'what'.

She said "John Ryan's mother died".

I said "who?John Ryan that I met once at a wedding 10 years ago?". I remembered the name as the surname was unusual. I used a different name here

She said yes.

That was her opening news!

my pil used to have a running commentary on buses and routes… my dh has always had a car and had not been on a bus in 20 years … he’s started commenting on bus routes at 57…….

My mother also seems to think that I am still close friends with people I went to school with twenty years ago.

The funny thing is - she will talk to me about people I went to school with, that I wasn't even friends with.

She will give me detailed updates on one boy that I went to school with.

She tells me about his job, his children , his wife. She tells me about what his sisters doing. She doesn't know him, but his aunty works at a pharmacy that she goes to.

Everytime she brings him up, I say "i haven't spoken to Brian in 20 years".

This is so accurate 😂😂😂

See also, people you met twice at the age of 3 who expect you to know who they are at family gatherings.

Anyone who thinks they won't be exactly like this when they get older are deluding themselves.

Trust me
You will 🤣

My mother does this, but in fairness it is people I know, often relatives. I wish them well but I'm not necessarily interested in the minutiae.

But... don't most people do this to some extent? When you ask your friends what they've been up to, and they tell you about their sister's shenanigans, or your husband tells you about people at work. I know a lot of random stuff about a lot of random virtual strangers, and my mother is not the source of most of it.

lol my stepmother always gives us long and detailed histories of people we have never met and will never meet

Yes! This is my DM - both samples! She is chief curtain-twitcher on her street.

Yep! Both mine and my in laws 😂

My Dad does this. We call call him The Road Sheriff.