Small Talk is Awkward

Heya playas, how's it going? Good, good? I hope? So um, how 'bout this weather? Small talk is very different from big talk. Some people call it chatter or fluff and what it really is is filler conversation to help fill in the void to eliminate any type of awkwardness. It helps you transition from the current state you're in to a comfortable one. Small talk is generally used in one of three places, at the beginning of a conversation. Hey how's it going? How's work? How's the family? How's other stuff happening with you? At the end of a conversation. You know I got a long way back, my kid's birthday is coming up and I gotta drive and it's snowy outside you know and the car takes a long time to get ready. It happens. Or anywhere in between to help fill the space of silence. Sunny day huh? I hate it, I hate small talk. But if you find yourself in a situation where you have to have it, here are a few ways to break it down. Direct small talk conversations involve anything that's a personal observation such as the persons health, their family or their looks. Most of the time those are the safest things to talk about because no one's gonna get angry if you're talking about the weather. Some of the not so safe things to talk about are politics, religion and sex which to me are the most fun things to talk about. Damn you small talk, why you so boring? There's a psychological understanding known as Grice's Maxim of Quantity states that your response to someone's small talk question should contain no more information than was asked for. So that means this, if a person wanted to ask you. "Hey, how's it going? So, did you sleep well last night?" And you respond with "Yep" that's considered bad small talk etiquette. But if you were to respond with "Yep, I slept pretty good. Thanks". Then you have fulfilled Grice's Maxim of Quantity theorem and thus eliminated awkwardness. Strange creatures, these humans I know. And what's even more crazy is that men and women have different small talk speech patterns when they communicate with their own gender. Women tend to be more collaborative and help support each others involvement in conversation. So Margaret, you're the only one who's single. We definitely have you get you shacked up with a boy. Oh, I don't know. Yes absolutely. Tell us what kind of man you're looking for. Oh I don't know. Someone who will treat me right. And in contrast, men's small talk conversations tend to be more competitive. We'll playfully insult each other. We'll put each other down ultimately leading to a verbal sparring match. So my good man, what company do you work for? Just a small town start up, I mean nothing really... Ha ha ha, that's wonderful. I make millions of dollars every single year, how 'bout you champ? And in both these situations, neither are meant to be insulting. They're generally ways for the other person to signal that they're comfortable talking to you. Not that you're comfortable talking to them, that they're comfortable talking to you. Like this video if you also hate small talk. Dammit, let's talk about *** that's fun! Leave a comment letting me know where you made small talk with a person just to prevent the situation from being awkward. And subscribe to the channel to see more videos on social communication and other *** that humans do that makes no sense. As always guys, love and peace. So, how 'bout those Yankees? I have my own theory on small talk and it goes something like this. The people that prefer and can easily make small talk conversations generally aren't as complex as people who can't. Throughout history the smartest people have never tended to be the ones that were the most socially aware. They sometimes don't get the etiquette of conversation, they'll blurt things out and ask questions without thinking wow, is this something I should really be talking about right now? But I'm no scientist, or psychologist. In fact I have no experience on any of this at all. That's why you should look at the things I say as a grain of salt that's sprinkled over your food. That made little to no sense, did it?