So what are you working on? Master's thesis? What are you writing on? Do you just hate being asked? "How's your thesis coming along?" Grr. Thesis-writing people should wear little pie-charts that show what percentage they've finished, or what percentage they would like to tell you they've finished, along with the title of their thesis, so they wouldn't have to tell people a million times a day. Or maybe they could hand out cards, like calling cards.

"How's your thesis?"
*hand person a card*
"Oh... Thanks."