Of course, I've also been known to pull a Madeline Ashton with my fellow travelers and simply intone bitchily, "Can you just NOT BREATHE?"

Irritating talkers may be dealt with quite quickly, actually. With a polite, "You must pardon me, Darling, but I've absolute mountains of reading to do for my pitch meeting in Paris so you'll understand if I don't engage you in conversation, right, Darling? Thank you ever so much for understanding," and the obvious gestures of turning to one's laptop and inserting one's earbuds, irritating talkers are usually disengaged rather easily.

Quiet starers, on the other hand, are disconcerting on a host of different levels, and cause much angina in terms of the psychological hoops through which the recipient of said quiet stares must jump. One wonders, in turns, "Is there food on my face?" "Does this person know me?" "Is this person following me?" "Is this person spying on me?" "Does this person find me attractive and wish to begin a conversation but is too shy / introverted / socially retarded to do so?" "Does this person want to meet me in the bathroom for clandestine fellatio? Because he is really cute and I would actually be so down with that." Etc.

So, yeah, irritating talker.