The person who notices you searching for a way into the conversation has an easy kindness available.

Standing at the edge of a group, waiting for a gap, is a small and common misery. It is also completely visible to anyone who looks, and almost nobody looks, because the conversation is absorbing and the person outside it is not making a noise. Turning slightly, using their name, and asking them something takes about four seconds. Few kindnesses have such a large effect for so little effort.

At the next gathering, give yourself the job of watching the edges rather than the middle. One question to one person on the outside will do more for the evening than anything clever you might have said inside it.