# Interupting the speaker and responding to interuptions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551 "2024-11-01T18:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551/21 "2024-11-02T17:59:51Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said. It seems we were both talking at the same time.” I just realized, and thought I should mention, that I believe this was Miss Manners’ suggestion to a reader. And it stuck with me for, I dunno, 40 years or so. mmm ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551/22 "2024-11-02T19:38:08Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Ah, yes. The talking stick: > > > A talking stick, also called a speaker’s staff, is an instrument of Indigenous democracy used by a number of Indigenous communities, especially those in the Pacific Northwest nations of North America. The talking stick may be passed around a group, as multiple people speak in turn I’ve seen them used that way in some modern groups in the Northeast USA, often explicitly mentioning that they got the idea from those indigenous communities. I haven’t seen them often enough to figure out what’s done when somebody won’t pass the stick on to another speaker, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551/23 "2024-11-02T19:54:49Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > When we think of politics, I’ve interrupted my Republican neighbor a few times, when he heads down the road of well-worn bullshit talking points. We’ve all heard them ad nauseum. I once had a right-winger start in, at length, with a talking point that I _agreed_ with; I already knew what he was going to say, and I knew that I was going to shrug; and I knew what his second point was going to be, and I knew I was going to disagree _then._ I can’t help but think it was a big waste of time, both his and mine, to let him go on and on about that first part. Oh, sure, it’s maybe the case that he thinks he won me over because I heard him out about that first part, and that he was only willing to then listen to me about the second because I’d been so danged obliging on the first — but I knew what his _third_ long-winded point was then going to be, and so I interrupted him with a quick agreement so we could get to the _fourth_ point in a hurry. And I saw no difference. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551/24 "2024-11-03T19:39:31Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’ve seen them used that way in some modern groups in the Northeast USA, often explicitly mentioning that they got the idea from those indigenous communities. I heard an NPR report once about a Western aid worker having a small village in West Africa use one. Which inspired me to write a column about a prehistoric change consultant to cave people use one also. My editor called it “Clan of the Cave Consultant” much better than the title I had proposed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interupting-the-speaker-and-responding-to-interuptions/1009551.md?page=1)