Thoughts on conversation

[kaut]

How do you start a conversation when you have nothing to say? And how do you end that conversation without feeling guilty? Why start the conversation in the first place when you know it will lead to nothing but a feeling of being polite?

[Stween]

Originally posted by kaut
How do you start a conversation when you have nothing to say? And how do you end that conversation without feeling guilty? Why start the conversation in the first place when you know it will lead to nothing but a feeling of being polite?

How do you start a conversation when you have nothing to say? With difficulty. It normally relies on some very recent observation that is probably mildly amusing to both parties.

How to end the conversation? Depends on the circumstances, and also if the conversation lasts longer than the initial comment. But why feel guilty if it's a stranger you're possibly never gonna see again? But you start the conversation such that neither party feels uncomfortable in an otherwise potentially awkward situation.

[kaut]

Good observations.

Would it be time to end it when both parties are looking around awkwardly for something to add, that's when I usually end them?

[Stween]

Well it really depends on the situation, and we don't know what sort of situation we're talking about here ;)

Occasionally, its possible once the ice has been broken to cut in with something completely random. For example, tech for a guy, the state of your clean boots having just walked through the morning snow to a woman. Although I rarely try - the kind of situation I'm thinking of when answering your question is moving a couple of floors up in a lift, and normally there I'm listening to a CD...