Saturday, May 3, 2008
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I never got to pick up my discussion on things like sports, fashion, etc. I believe that I would need to break them apart to fully evaluate them. However, for my discussion tonight I want to group them together. I think people find "filler" topics. Conversation that has no substantive value. That's what sports, fashion, etc. can be. You could perhaps talk about sports to feel part of some community, but otherwise it just seems like a way for people to avoid talking about other things. People do not want to talk about politics and news because there are too many stories and people seem uneasy about it. And your work or academic field is mostly unique to you. So your best bet is to talk about something neutral and something you know the other person will probably know. An even easier one is the weather because there are people out there like me who don't watch of pay attention to sports. If I had my "fillers" they would probably be the weather and cars.
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3 comments:
I would define filler topics as our culture--the ideas and values of our society. It's the stuff that we all share, whether it be movies or sports teams or music or whatever.
So there really isn't anything wrong with it. Except the weather. People always talk about it in the wrong way--they complain about it! Seriously--you live in Wisconsin, what do you expect--80 and sunny? We get that about 20 days a year, deal with it or move somewhere else.
I would agree with weather being the most basic filler topic, and one that crosses language and country borders. Everyone knows what the weather's been lately unless they've been travelling - which leads to a new point of discussion - or if they've been living in a sunless cave.
Most of the population is well informed on sports and current topics so they're great to talk about with people you don't know well. Another great one is if you've had some sort of holiday / break recently.
I think we use small talk because it gives a comfortable way to get to know people. Depending on how opinionated they are - you may never want to talk to them again, or be intrigued and start talking about something more meaningful.
So Joe's first paragraph summarizes it, though I wouldn't say we all share these topics - there's some people that learn them to not be shunned and there's others who don't care.
I like talking about the weather optimistically, though it's always fun to talk about the two meters of snow we've had in WI this winter when people are wearing winter coats and scarves when it's 50.
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