Swap “that’s weird” for “that’s interesting” and the whole world gets less annoying and more useful.

Calling something weird closes the file. It sorts a person, a custom or an idea into the pile you never have to think about again, and the sorting happens so fast that you never find out what was inside. Curiosity keeps the file open a few seconds longer, which is usually all it takes to learn something.

Catch yourself once a day this week and change the word. Then ask a real follow up question about whatever it was. Some of it will still turn out to be nonsense, and you will have lost nothing by checking.