Asking questions is fine, have a nice little mental script for it. ("Where are you from? What do you do? IS that what you wanted to do originally? How many kids do you have? What grade are they in? Bla-bla-bla...") Answering questions about myself, not so much.
To have a truly great conversation, that's a trade off you'll have to make. It's all about giving the impression that you're not exploiting the give-and-take dynamics when you drill a relatively unknown person with questions. And that is an art. Like the great late Teddy Pendergrass told us, I've given 80% and she's given 20% Now she's givin' 70% and I'm givin' 30 I think we've got something that a lot of people don't seem to have Talkin' 'bout a 50/50 love, yeah
Terrified no. Do I care about what meaningless things they may have to say? No. Do they have boobies? Okay maybe.
I love talking to strangers. I always learn something new. I met one of my best friends, chatting a stranger up at a concert.
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I like talking to new people, like at a bar, or a new coworker, friend of a friend, stuff like that. I LOATHE talking to strangers on the phone though (my job requires it sometimes). I hate talking on the phone period. I wish I didn't, but I just can't stand it. Most of my friends and family know to e-mail me or go out to dinner if they want to "just talk," because I will get bored with you after 3 or 4 minutes on the phone.
Talking with strangers is good. Arguing with strangers not so much. For those who don't like to talk to strangers consider on a relatively open internet forum like this everytime you post you are essentially talking to strangers. Possibly thousands of them.
How about you SHUT YOUR MOUTH?!?!?! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT NOTHING. I DISAGREE WITH YOU ABOUT ANYTHING YOU SAY. *spits* Spoiler Like that?
I was talking to a fellow female passenger on the flight back till I realized she didn't want to stop talking and I felt awkward, I was in the middle of a 3 seat set. My wife joked that I was flirting again...
One of the things I like about living in Seattle is that I will frequently strike up conversations with complete strangers. I used to think the South was the most polite part of the country, but the people of the Northwest are the friendliest.
