<h2>A social faux pas that <br>we all could do well to stop</h2>

I'm noticing an unusual trend in my conversations with people, and it's not just with one or two individuals. It's with a lot of folks.

They jump on my comments before I can finish them and either respond or, in the case of a question I might be answering, answer the question they think I'm going to ask before I have a chance to get the complete thought out of my mouth. I decided to tap out this post, in fact, because someone at work just cut me off in mid-sentence with a remark that, as it turns out, had nothing to do with where I was going with my own statement.

More than half the time when I'm cut off like that, the other person's comment -- as in the case just now -- has little or nothing to do with what I was going to say, or ... in situations where I might have been asking a question, the premature response doesn't answer or address the precise question I was going to ask. It responds to what they thought I was going to say or ask. Worse, it often totally disrupts my thought process, and I can't even remember what I was going to say or where I left off to later finish the thought or question if it turns out the other person just didn't get it.

Why do people do this? It bothers the hell out of me, and I find it to be quite rude. The irony in all this is that in a world where we often find ourselves complaining when people ignore us totally, this little faux pas seems to show we are going in the opposite direction with our social etiquette.

In fairness and candor, I know I do it myself. I haven't been able to track my own transgressions long or thoroughly enough yet to determine if I'm doing it A) in a retaliatory way -- i.e., subconsciously targeting only people who have been doing it to me (in which case, I might be able to deflect blame on them for starting it in the first place!); B) doing it subconsciously and randomly because I've been victimized myself and I find myself inadvertently racing to get my thought process in before someone else cuts me off; or C) I could be responsible for starting it in the first place!

I hope it's not "C," and I have been trying lately to do better on my end, making a conscious effort NOT to jump on other people's comments prematurely, especially those whose lines I know I've jumped on previously. I know I slip and still do so anyway, but I don't think I'm doing it as often as I used to.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I have a few theories on why it might be happening. In some cases, I sense people -- myself included -- are trying to show we are listening ... and by jumping in with a premature thought, we're trying to show we're correctly anticipating the thought process, thereby assuring the other person that we are paying attention to what they're saying. Unfortunately, it's not working. Surely, my jumping in on other people's lines has to be as annoying to them as it is when they or others do it to me.

In other instances, we jump in prematurely because we feel rushed and don't want to wait around for the complete thought and want to advance the conversational thread right now. I think this explanation, however, is the ultimate in disrespect to someone else. I'm not sure if I'm guilty of this explanation when I do it; I could be, but I hope not.

If there are other explanations for why we do this, I'm not sure what they are, but I'm open to hearing them. I do know we all need to try harder to stop it.

As I said earlier, it's rude. We really need to "just stop it"!

To those I've offended when I've done this myself, I apologize ... and I assure you I've done this subconsciously ... not really intending to be mean or rude, even though I know in hindsight that it really is rude.