Small Talk
Every morning I greet the crossing guard with a wave and some sort of comment on the weather.
“Nice weather to be out in the fine morning sunshine!” or
“You’re earning your pay this morning!” or
“You’re still here? Thought you’d have blown away the way that wind’s going!”
And yes, Pippa, I put the exclamation marks in on purpose.
Small talk. In this situation, it’s perfectly ok. I don’t want to engage her further than that, because then I’d be the idiot standing in the middle of the road while the school traffic is passing through. A comment that lets me acknowledge that I appreciate the job she is doing for us, without getting into a conversation that causes road rage.
I was listening to Tell ‘Em Steve Dave – a podcast by some of the guys on Comic Book Men, and –
OK. The Comic Book Men is a TV show – I don’t think we get it in Australia – set in the Secret Stash. The Secret Stash is associated with Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith did Mallrats, Clerks, Chasing Amy…
Caught up yet? Then there’s your homework.
I was listening to this podcast and (insert research here)
Some people hate small talk. And fair enough, if people are just going to look up at the sky and nod thoughtfully before going off on a diatribe about the weather. But small talk doesn’t have to be boring, it just has to be small. What we need is a list of topics that can be knocked off in about a minute without a huge amount of prior knowledge, that make you seem slightly more accessible to strangers and that won’t cause people to actively avoid you in the future.
Some topics just should never be brought up at all:
“Hey, did I miss something? When did they allow women to vote?”
“That Pope guy, he’s something else isn’t he?”
“You really have to see this growth that came up on my lower back!”
“I just got a new cat. I have a photo album here on my phone with 250 pictures. Wanna see?”
Others are perfectly acceptable, if taken in the right context, but are still considered borderline. These are the ones that I tend to use when starting a conversation because you are much more likely to achieve an interesting conversation:
“Hey, if you had to be a smurf, which smurf would you be?” (I’ve used this on dates. It doesn’t work)
“You have a minute. Plan the perfect murder.” (This is worse if you keep saying “Nope, that didn’t work” whenever they suggest something)
“What does it have in its pocketsess?” (I say borderline, because this could work really well with certain literary types – or just anyone who watches movies now. *sigh*)
There are also some conversation starters that might seem innocent enough but are so full of potential mayhem that you should probably leave them off the list until you know someone better:
“Where’d you get that bruise?” (no, not really)
“Tell me about your family.”
“Such-and-such is an idiot aren’t they?” (Such-and-such will always be related to whoever you’re talking to)
But in general, there are a few topics you can bring up in public that will knock off a minute or two in a long elevator ride, at a bus stop or in the hairdresser’s chair. Try one of these:
“So, where’d that plane end up?” (or anything that is based on a headline from the most popular tabloid newspaper that week)
“Have you seen the size of that line? What’s going on?”
“Hey, sports are great, aren’t they?” (or something more specific if you know anything about sports)
“Been here long?”
“Did you know the moon landing was faked?” (actually, maybe that’s just me)
And of course, the old standby:
“How’s that weather?”
Finding Damo 