I tried to attribute this quote to its originator, and ran into a bit of a classic black hole. I found several sources that gave credit to Abraham Lincoln, some to Mark Train, a few to Woodrow Wilson, as well as George Eliot, Groucho Marx, and even Albert Einstein. Most of my research pointed back to Proverbs 17:28 as the kernel of the idea :
"Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."
I have a series of shelves in my head, shelves that contain volumes of information. 99.999999% is woefully trivial and utterly banal. But it is information. Friends often joke that if they were ever to appear on the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I would be their 'phone a friend' just for the breadth of useless information contained in my brain.
Since I've yet to have anyone I know be on any TV trivia game show, I've yet to have a valid outlet for my 'gift'. That doesn't mean I've kept it hidden. On the contrary, I have been know to spew factoids out at an alarming rate, and most of the time it is harmless fun. Its not a info-tourettes barrage however. It tends to be tangentially connected info....sometimes one or two steps away, other times, well...it can turn into 180* of Kevin Bacon.
Just like folks appear to be doing with the recently redesigned Google+ (http://www.slashgear.com/google-refresh-triggers-social-fury-11222491/) the 'white space' or quite times in our conversations can freak people out. So to avoid the uncomfortable feelings, we fill the void with...sometimes nothing more that noise.
So if you run into me and I seem a bit less talkative, its not that I have nothing to say...I'm just trying to give silence it's due.
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