TYPES OF TALKERS

There is no greater affliction in modern life than the tiresome talker.  He talks incessantly.  Presumably he talks in his sleep.  Talking is his constant exercise and recreation.  He thrives on it.  He lives for talking’s sake.  He would languish if he were deprived of it for a single day.  His continuous practice in talking enables him easily to outdistance all ordinary competitors.  There is nothing which so completely unnerves him as long periods of silence.  He has the talking habit in its most virulent form.

The trifling talker is equally objectionable.  He talks much, but says little.  He skims over the surface of things, and is timid of anything deep or philosophical.  He does not tarry at one subject.  He talks of the weather, clothes, plays, and sports.  He puts little meaning into what he says, because there is little meaning in what he thinks.  He cannot look at anything seriously.  Nothing is of great significance to him.  He is in the class of featherweights.

The tedious talker is one without terminal facilities.  He talks right on with no idea of objective or destination.  He rises to go, but he does not go.  He knows he ought to go, but he simply cannot.  He has something more to say.  He keeps you standing half an hour.  He talks a while longer.  He assures you he really must go.  You tell him not to hurry.  He takes you at your word and sits down again.  He talks some more.  He rises again.  He does not know even now how to conclude.  He has no mental compass.  He is a rudderless talker.

Probably the most obnoxious type is the tattling talker.  He always has something startlingly personal to impart.  It is a sacred secret for your ear.  He is a wholesale dealer in gossip.  He fairly smacks his lips as he relates the latest scandal.  He is an expert embellisher.  He adroitly supplies missing details.  He has nothing of interest in his own life, since he lives wholly in the lives of others.  He is a frightful bore, but you cannot offend him.  He is adamant.

There is the tautological talker, or the human self-repeater.  He goes over the ground again and again lest you have missed something.  He is very fond of himself.  He tells the same story not twice, but a dozen times.  “You may have heard this before,” says he, “but it is so good that it will bear repetition.”  He tries to disguise his poverty of thought in a masquerade of ornate language.  If he must repeat his words, he adds a little emphasis, a flourishing gesture, or a spirit of nonchalance.

Again, there is the tenacious talker, who refuses to release you though you concede his arguments.  When all others tacitly drop a subject, he eagerly picks it up.  He is reluctant to leave it.  He would put you in possession of his special knowledge.  You may successfully refute him, but he holds firmly to his own ideas.  He is positive he is right.  He will prove it, too, if you will only listen.  He knows that he knows.  You cannot convince him to the contrary, no indeed.  He will talk you so blind that at last you are unable to see any viewpoint clearly.