verb, intransitive. To talk at length about trivial or boring subjects.
Noun: A trivial or unduly persistent conversation.
After the plane levelled off, he began: he introduced himself to the teenager sitting beside him, then asked the youngster a series of questions about his interests and his school experiences. She considered some of the questions too personal for a casual exchange between strangers, but since she could not hear the responses, she hoped that the young man was exercising discretion.
Every response elicited a harangue from the man. She hoped he would tire of the effort of making conversation with a reluctant partner, but as the flight continued, he yacked on, seemingly oblivious to the teenager's hesitations, which were glaringly apparent to her. She wondered how an adult, with years or decades of social experience, could be so clueless, but she supposed that the man was simply trying to pass the time entertainingly.
It was no more entertaining for her than it was for the man's seat-mate. The timbre of his voice ensured that it penetrated the upholstery of the backrest that separated her from him, and probably carried to the passengers in front of her. It overwhelmed the drone of the plane's engines. She found herself unable to focus on the magazine article she had started reading after take-off. She placed the periodical in her lap and gazed out the window at a uniform gray field of clouds. No relief there. She normally enjoyed flying, but guessed that this flight would be an exception until they landed. Nothing seemed to discourage the pedant behind her. She would have been more annoyed had she not had the unfortunate teenager who was his target to pity.
Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.
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