How do you make medium talk?

Asked by nikipedia (28077

) November 10th, 2010

And by that I mean a conversation a step up from small talk. Small talk is boring, especially here in Southern California where the weather is always good and the traffic is always bad. And being able to make conversation seems like a useful skill in a great deal of situations.

A friend of mine follows entertainment news and sports, so she’s pretty good at starting a conversation with almost anyone. I find that most people I know are pretty interested in fitness and exercise, so when I hit on that it tends to generate a pretty good discussion.

What are other good, semi-interesting but relatively neutral discussion items? What topics do you find tend to generate a conversation that’s actually worth having with a wide audience?

Observing members: 0

Composing members: 0

7 Answers

Food? Talk about some new dish you were thinking about making or something?

Blackberry (33949

)“Great Answer” (2

) Flag as…

Books, movies, local politics, composting, recycling, cooking, anything of substance.

gailcalled (54644

)“Great Answer” (3

) Flag as…

Ask people about themselves. I am not naturally comfortable in social situations and used to hate parties (wait, I still hate parties) until I realized I could put my reporter skills to work. People love to talk about themselves or their kids. So ask one leading, slightly personal question (how are the kids, the house, the job) and just keep following up with more polite questions.

perg (2624

)“Great Answer” (5

) Flag as…

I would echo @perg. By asking questions, you can hit on topics that are worth discussing.

marinelife (62485

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

I think small talk is only innocuous stuff that no one will take offense to.
Medium talk might be “Can you believe what a dick face (Obama, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin) is?”

filmfann (52232

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…