I don't know if
it is just my gf and mum. However two habits that they display that i have yet to meet in men, is answering a question with a question.
For examples
me:"are you going to be home tonight?"
her "why?" me (when feeling sarcastic) "well the bomb won't get you if you are not"

The other one is answering the question they think you asked.

For example, I asked my gf a very specific question (back story; we were going to a country club, which has a long witing list to join, for her grans 90s. One my gfs cousins is married to a bloke who was already a member and as such his direct family i.e. wife and kids get automatice membership. The cousins have two kids, my gfs bro was commenting on the above membership process.) I asked "how old is the counsins eldest son?" (planing on joking gf's bro could pretend to be said offspring to get in) I was then treated to a full list, in chronological order, of all the cousins offspring and relative ages. unhelpfully the offspring i wanted to know was the youngest of 6.... it wasn't a vague question... was it?

StyX

p.s. Typing from phone apologies for typos etc

p.p.s. have corrected but history has shown my written english is poor. Apologies etc etc
(StyX is staring at you, yes YOU!!!, Tue 29 Dec 2009, 1:32, 4 replies)

OMG
Yes! I do this (the long winded explaining thing). I think we can't help it. It's incurable.
( cakelady, Tue 29 Dec 2009, 9:47, closed)

i sometimes do this (i'm male)
like i'll tell my girlfriend 'something funny really happened today', but rather than just saying, e.g. 'i saw a bird fly into someone's mouth', i'll start the story with me waking up at home, and include what I did from then until the incident. I know I'm doing it but can't stop once the ball's rolling.
( valoukh newsgash.wordpress.com, Tue 29 Dec 2009, 10:15, closed)

BAD BAD MAN
I to have been known to give the full back story to some of the simplest stories.

I am not sure if it is better than "You know, JAMES SMITH", "JAMES SMITH", "you know JAMES SMITH", as if repeating a small piece of information again and agian with some how offer a full explaination.

The missus does it quiet a lot. For example, the book "eats, shoots and leaves" came up in polite conversation. I asked what it was and she just repeated the name at me, because she thought i knew what the hell she was talking about. Maybe i should be less shouty about these things. Everyone went a bit quiet after....
(StyX is staring at you, yes YOU!!!, Tue 29 Dec 2009, 22:12, closed)

The Latest One
Talking about skiing, on Monday just passed, with the missus and her Fam. I shared a story with them, in which a friend and I had worked out to open the doors of the ski lift (a small 4 person gondola). I commented i thought i was a bit unsafe. I was then treated to a 10 minute explaination of how, why and were ski lift emergency systems work... i was just trying to be funny.
(StyX is staring at you, yes YOU!!!, Tue 29 Dec 2009, 22:07, closed)