The long-winded often fall short in self-awareness. Thus a perfunctory “How was your weekend?” can prompt a super-slo-mo recounting of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — and, if you’re unlucky, Monday morning. Help a prattler get to the point by “looking for pauses in his rhetoric and jumping in with targeted questions,” says Julie Chen, a veteran interviewer and an anchor of CBS News’ The Early Show, “because rarely does ‘What happened?’ help the cause.” Instead, throw in a “but” and a question. Chen suggests: “I understand that’s what you do when you XYZ, but what if I wanted to ABC?” If getting even one word in edgewise proves difficult, Kelly Riddle, a private investigator who runs Kelmar & Associates, in San Antonio, suggests shaking your head no. “Boring people are used to people nodding at them,” says Riddle. “So if you give them a no, you’re more likely to create a pause.” And if the chatterbox has a sense of humor, try Chen’s desperate measure: “I raise my hand like I’m in class and say, 'Question!'"