# What do you call a room full of conversations that simultaneously end?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541 "2006-02-01T18:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buddyl33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@buddyl33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddyl33)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/1 "2006-02-01T18:49:00Z")
Hello, I think I remember reading this somewhere, but I can’t for the life of my find it again. Some people believe there is a phenomenon that at certain times after the hour, a room which could be filled with different conversations (think a party) will suddenly quiet down. I thought that some people said that this had a special “title” and was said to be attributed to some author’s ghost or something, but I could be way off. Any help would be appreciated! -Brad ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/2 "2006-02-01T19:18:56Z")
Can’t help with anything as exotic as naming an author whose ghost might be abroad, but I think I have heard such a phenomenon (which I have experiecned more than once myself) referred to as “an awkward silence” or “a pregnant pause” (if it all starts right back up again). I’d bet you want more than simply “quiet.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/3 "2006-02-01T19:36:12Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/silence.asp) article about this. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/4 "2006-02-01T19:39:16Z")
That reminds me of a Far Side cartoon - 7 or 8 dogs sitting around a living room in sofas and chairs nodding off, and the caption was: The conversation was flowing until all of a sudden they all just got dog tired. Maybe that’s the term: ‘dog tired’? ---
**Author:** ![pablo2006](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pablo2006](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pablo2006)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/5 "2006-02-01T19:41:55Z")
I’ve heard someone once or twice say during this lull that “an angel must have flown over”. Booo! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/6 "2006-02-01T19:47:57Z")
Richard Dawkins used an instance of the phenomenon as an example of a positive feedback loop in “The Blind Watchmaker”. It strikes me as a pretty good explanation of why it occurs in most cases, though it doesn’t provide you with a term for it. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/7 "2006-02-01T19:53:12Z")
Hmm. I remember reading the Snopes article, but I _have_ read about that in precicely one book. It was a sci-fi, cyberpunk type novel… perhaps called “Virtuality”? I think it’s on my shelf at home - I can look for it if it sounds familiar. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/8 "2006-02-01T20:10:36Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > That reminds me of a Far Side cartoon - 7 or 8 dogs sitting around a living room in sofas and chairs nodding off, and the caption was: The conversation was flowing until all of a sudden they all just got dog tired. Maybe that’s the term: ‘dog tired’? Canine social blunders: " Say,i just found out yesterday I’ve got worms." ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/9 "2006-02-01T22:37:55Z")
I’ve heard it called a “hiatus” which is a break or gap in continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/10 "2006-02-01T22:40:01Z")
What do you call a room full of conversations that simultaneously end?? An E. F. Hutton commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/11 "2006-02-02T00:33:54Z")
An angel passed. ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/12 "2006-02-02T05:05:01Z")
A friend of mine once told me that whenever this happens, everyone is simultaneously thinking of Abe Lincoln. This is an example of a viral meme. Now when any of our friends note a sudden lull in conversation, we all think and say “Abe Lincoln!” If you’re reading this, you’ve caught the Abe Lincoln virus. Sorry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/13 "2006-02-02T05:51:03Z")
**What do you call a room full of conversations that simultaneously end??** I call it a sign that the person everybody was talking about just walked in. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/14 "2006-02-02T06:00:00Z")
Bertrand Russell told this anecdote about Benjamin Disraeli, to illustrate the humor of homonyms. It seems that Disraeli was sensitive about the appearance of his big hairy hands. Once at a dinner party the conversation in the room suddenly languished. After a moment of general silence one woman said, “Awful pause.” Disraeli, who had absentmindedly rested his hands on the tabletop, was seen to quietly but quickly withdraw them and hide them. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/15 "2006-02-02T18:58:32Z")
I’ve heard it called the “cocktail party effect”. I’ve also heard it called “lagniappe”. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/16 "2006-02-02T19:08:16Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’ve heard it called the “cocktail party effect”. > I’ve also heard it called “lagniappe”. I thought the “cocktail party effect” was being able to hear someone say your name amid a roomful of chatter. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/17 "2006-02-02T19:40:55Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Bertrand Russell told this anecdote about Benjamin Disraeli, to illustrate the humor of homonyms. > > It seems that Disraeli was sensitive about the appearance of his big hairy hands. Once at a dinner party the conversation in the room suddenly languished. After a moment of general silence one woman said, “Awful pause.” > > Disraeli, who had absentmindedly rested his hands on the tabletop, was seen to quietly but quickly withdraw them and hide them. Maybe as a non-native speaker I don’t have the necessary linguistic instinct, I don’t get this. What’s the homonym to “awful pause” that’s supposed to be humorous here? I remember reading the Snopes article already linked to years ago, and then I simply thought this was one of Snopes’s rare hoaxes. Interesting to hear that there are really superstitions told on this phenomenon which all of us know, and even more interesting to hear that those legends include Abraham Lincoln, as Snopes implies. I’ll get the Lincoln biography Snopes is citing via interlibrary lending to see what it has to say. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/18 "2006-02-02T19:44:27Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Maybe as a non-native speaker I don’t have the necessary linguistic instinct, I don’t get this. What’s the homonym to “awful pause” that’s supposed to be humorous here? “pause” ~= “paws”, as in the ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/19 "2006-02-02T19:48:09Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Maybe as a non-native speaker I don’t have the necessary linguistic instinct, I don’t get this. What’s the homonym to “awful pause” that’s supposed to be humorous here? Let’s try that again. (Was trying to open another window when I accidentally submitted.) “pause” ~= “paws”, as in the clawed foot of an animal, or by extension, exceptionally large or clumsy human hands. Disraeli thought that the speaker was referring to his hands as paws, and calling them awful to boot. Does that help explain?? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541/20 "2006-02-02T19:55:49Z")
In college, at the house I lived in we called this the “18 minute gap” (from Watergate fame) since it always seemed to happen about 20 minutes into dinner. We’d all look at each other, omeone would say “18 minute gap”, and conversation would resume. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-room-full-of-conversations-that-simultaneously-end/342541.md?page=2)