Keep Talking: Daily Conversation Starters for the Family Meal

If you could spend an hour doing anything, what would it be?

If you could visit with any person in history, who would it be? If you could go anywhere for dinner tomorrow, where would you go? If you could turn into any animal, which one would you be? If you could write a bestselling book, what would it be about? If you were a painter, what picture would you paint first? What does success mean to you? Why are some people cruel and unkind? What does it mean when two people have chemistry?

What do you think is the most significant event in the history of the human race? What is the meaning of life? What scares you the most about the future? What would make you totally content right now? What lesson has failure taught you? How do you deal with doubt? When was the last time you cried? What stresses you out? What was the greatest day of your life?

Why do you think there are so many religions in the world? What is your definition of a miracle? When do you pray?

What motivates you to pray? When do you feel most alone?

Do you believe the human soul is eternal? What fills up your heart to bursting level? Retrieved on December 17, , from https: People dismiss small talk as superficial and boring. Small talk is an essential part of the social contract. It allows us to engage and identify common ground with safe, low-risk topics -- it's an on-ramp. One way to make that on-ramp more engaging?

Ask open-ended questions that invite people to tell stories, rather than give bland, one-word answers:. Someone invited you over for a meal, either mistakenly or on purpose.

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But don't celebrate just yet. Careers, marriages, and even science can hinge on what's said between or during bites. The following activities will guide your conversation into the fecund realm of imaginative exploration. Start a Band Go around a circle, and use the name of two or more objects you see in the order you see them to make the best indie band name: The group then votes on a winner.

Bonus points if you can hum a tune or describe your band's first music video to go viral. Dubbing Game Extra large party? Pick a couple across the room, out of earshot, and dub their conversation. When chitchat between strangers suffers, it's often from a lack of familiarity. Within families, however, the opposite is true: We know far, far too much about these people.

High, Low, and Interesting

Our intimacy prevents us from finding a comfortable distance. Figure out what section of the book or video store carries your family saga, and you're that much closer to finding out what to say to these people. Who plays what part, and what's their motivation? Once you determine what drives your dad to feed bacon grease to the hamster, his erratic behavior will start to make a certain twisted narrative sense.

Type it up, sell it. With a good agent and foreign rights, you should earn enough to acquire a new family. Like too many bowls of ice cream, too much of a good conversation can ruin the initial delight and cause you to vomit ice cream. Having mastered the art of starting the chat, you must now learn to stop once the time has come. Spoken with confidence, these words will get you out of any exchange: It's been so nice talking with you.

Then fake-faint until the other person walks away. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. Below, a few tips from our book: Small Talk People dismiss small talk as superficial and boring. Ask open-ended questions that invite people to tell stories, rather than give bland, one-word answers: