Dear Queenie,

There's this group of people that we go out with every week. Most of them are okay, but there's one person who can't stop talking. And even if someone else gets a chance to talk, this person just butts in and takes over the conversation.

When I was trying to tell about my last vacation this person just interrupted me to tell about their last trip to the same place. And when another woman started telling about how her kids were doing in school, this person took over with stories about how their kids were doing so much better in the same school.

Queenie, how do you get someone like that to shut up and give someone else a chance?—Speechless

Dear Speechless,

Some people are so conceited they can't imagine anyone not being interested in what they have to say. And some are so insecure they just have to "top" whatever anyone else is saying with their own "bigger and better" version.

If you want to be polite, you can say something like, "Excuse me, but would you please let me finish what I was saying? Then it will be your turn to talk."

However, courtesy is often lost on the kind of person you describe. So if courtesy doesn't work, feel free to express yourself a little more forcefully. And it would help if the other people in the group would back you up. Sometimes the only thing that works is a chorus of, "Shut up, motor-mouth!"