The Do's and Don't's of Agreeable Conversation : Page 191

everyone has a right to guide the conversation. In the formal way, it is the prerogative of the host or hostess, and should only be ventured with much caution by anyone else. Semiformal shifts can be achieved by saying, "Your last remark, that jet planes of 1500 miles an hour are being blueprinted, happens to make me think that I haven't in a long time seen any of those advertising blimps that used to be so ubiquitous before the war. Have any of you seen them?" Thus the conversation can turn toward advertising, toward the probable business cycle, and so on. Naturally the person who would make such a remark before the previous topic about aeronautics has been fairly well threshed out commits a grievous offense against good talk. Changing a subject before everyone has had a chance to have his "say" on it is an irritating irrelevancy. A remark calculated to shift a topic is in place only when the general interest would suggest a need for a change. Then a good conversationalist will pave the way for a transition.