You haven't even started packing yet, but your mind has already drifted to the dinner table at your parents' house. There will be homemade mashed potatoes and salads that aren't served from behind a cafeteria sneeze guard. Of course, there will also be your parents.

Oh, yeah. Them. You love your 'rents like crazy, but their prodding questions about whether you're dating anyone/getting straight As/in the process of solving world peace, you could do without. Here are nine foolproof phrases that will steer the Thanksgiving conversation away from your life choices without making you look like a giant turkey.

"I'm so busy with school that I don't even have time to date right now."

Boom. Two annoying lines of inquiry thwarted with one strategic sentence.

"You know who else is vegetarian? Sir Paul McCartney."

Yes, like, the Beatle.

"Who am I voting for? Grandma for Woman of the Year, amiright?"

Finally, a candidate everyone can get behind.

"Yes, I'll be able to find a job with this major. I've already seen a lot posted on Snapchat."

Forget the fact that there are probably not jobs there. They won't know what Snapchat is, and they won't won't to.

"If I was going to regret this tattoo it would have happened during the two hours I had a needle drilling my skin."

Let's be honest, the worst part of having a tattoo happens fairly early on.

"Wow. What have you guys been using to clean the kitchen?"

This implies that tidiness is a regular part of your life at school.

"It's so nice to have one day where I'm not obsessively worrying about my grades."

Pressing you about how midterms went would be a jerk move.

"Actually, I do have a good internship prospect. I don't want to jinx it, though."

Next question.

"Dad, it looks like someone might have messed with the thermostat."

If nothing else, this mayday plan will buy at least 20 minutes of complaining that has nothing to do with you.