The meaning of "I have to go"

To my landlord and other people who have a penchant for maundering on and on on the phone. . .

If I say to you, "I have to go", please let me go. Please don't talk my ear off for another fifteen minutes. My attention span is about 5 minutes unless you are really scintillating. (Note: most of my friends are scintillating, but most landlords are not. ) If I am changing subjects and sounding restless and prompting you to make your point quicker, that probably means my attention span is shot. You really don't have to repeat the same phrase and rework it four times. Once is enough, really. Twice is annoying, but FOUR times? This is why a conversation that ought to take 5 minutes ends up taking 19 minutes and 22 seconds.

This is why I never bother answering my phone anymore. B/c people from this area can't comprehend the phrase, "I have to go".

There are 4 different types of "I have to go".

The first is more like a 10-minute warning (because I learned the hard way that after I say "I have to go", I typically get talked at for 10 more minutes. ) The tone of my voice is restless, but at this point, probably not annoyed-sounding. But really, I do want/need to go. So this is not a time to start asking me how my job is going. Take it as a warning bell to wrap up your yakking.

Then there is the non-commital "I should probably get going". That means, "I've been on the phone long enough, but it's not absolutely necessary that I get off." I might say this as I'm making one "last" point or something so as to indicate to the listener, that yes, there will be an end to this point soon. Or I might say this if I feel like I've talked someone else's ear off.

The third type is a more urgent "I have to go". At this point, I'm starting to get antsy and am really not paying much attention to what you are saying, but I'm staying on to be polite. I think my voice might sound agitated, but still somewhat under control. At this point, you should really let me go in under 2 minutes. Ideally in under 1 minute. Besides, if I'm not really listening to what you are saying, then you're kindof wasting your breath anyway.

The last type is the type where I sound audibly annoyed/agitated/miffed, etc., and the one where I'm so annoyed that I couldn't cut you off earlier that I might throw the phone across the room in frustration after I get off with you, or if I could get away w/ slamming the phone, this is probably what I'd do at this point. Either that or gripe about it on a blog such as this. You really don't want to hear this "I have to go", or if you do, you really want to let me get off the phone or let me go within ten seconds. This "I have to go" usually happens if I have a certain expectation that discussing x,y,z should take s amount of time, but instead, the conversation ends up taking 5s, and the amount of talking I'm doing is about .25s.

I can talk people's ear off. So if I'm not talking much, and all I'm saying is u-huh, or "ok, so--" (to prompt you to get to your point, or "right right" or "got it got it got it", that's probably a sign that your conversation is taking longer than I'd like.

So when I say "I have to go", for heaven's sake, let me go.