Small Talk

I hate idle chatter, but I don't mind small talk. To me, the two are very different.

Idle chatter is what happens when you have nothing to say. You move your lips, speak words, but none of it matters. Like I said yesterday, it is the bland, petty minutia of people's lives.

Small talk, on the other hand, is real talking, but about smaller things. When I hang out with my friends and we aren't talking about global politics or long-term life goals, we still have good conversations, but about less important things.

Conversations in small talk include subjects like: best uncommon combination of pizza toppings, which superhero we'd rather be, what the best fusion of animals would be, what nation has the coolest flag, and why bitches be trippin'.

The great thing about small talk is that, in one sense, it is totally meaningless. The answers to these questions are good for a laugh at best, and are a decent way to kill time at worst. But in another sense, they reveal so very much about the people.

The questions that somebody chooses to ask reflect the things that they care about. The answers that they have are either preplanned or are gut reactions, both of which reveal more about the person. Small talk is an excellent, laid-back way to learn about people, as well as get some laughs and kill some time.