I&#x27;ve lived all over the world and I suspect it&#x27;s a class thing. Downtown Chicago people tend to talk over you nonstop with no regard for courtesy. Where I&#x27;ve been in France and the rest of Europe, it&#x27;s more what you&#x27;d expect (a pause). In my rural midwestern working class background there tends to be a pause, we didn&#x27;t talk over one another. My wife&#x27;s family is from Guadalajara, were privately schooled and in the Mexican government&#x27;s &quot;political class&quot;, they don&#x27;t interrupt.<p>It&#x27;s ingrained in me enough that if someone talks over me, I&#x27;ll just stop talking to them and subconsciously consider them to have a low standard of manners.