Fill Words and Overtalk

How to prevent interruptions. Keep talking.

Yammer, yammer, yammer.

    Courteous conversationalists wait for a pause before responding to another's comment. Courtesy, however, is often lacking, especially when some feel what they have to say is infinitely more important than whatever anyone else may have to say, so they jump in at the vaguest pause. Or they don't even wait for a pause. Meanwhile, as they rattle on, they rely on "fill words" to keep a sound level in their favor, so there isn't really a pause that might enable others to leap in to the conversation.
   Here are some fill words that prattlers use to maintain some level of sound, indicating that they really are still talking: I mean, really, it's like, sort of, y'know, um, uh, that is, what I'm trying to say is ...
   All these enable such speakers to keep their turns while trying to think of what they want to say next. Often, they don't really know what they want to say, but they're reluctant to yield their control of the talk session. That's not a conversation, but competitive yammering.

From our Dublin correspondent:

   It has been reported that Bill O'Reilly of Fox News said if Bernie Sanders is elected President he (O'Reilly) will move to Ireland.  Others have misgivings about Donald Trump supported by Sarah Palin and may also seek asylum.

   I think it is time for Ireland to review its policy concerning political refugees and asylum seekers.