Yahoo Lifestyle The Art Of Conversation
By Jennifer Pinkerton
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You’ve been there before: at a party, you meet someone new, and despite your warm smile and witty banter, the conversation’s drier than the Sturt Stony Desert. The best tack? Pose a few creative questions. Swap “What do you do?” for “What’s keeping you busy these days?” This works well for someone without an office job and lets people choose their focus—family, work, hobbies or volunteering, says Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project ($45; Harper Collins).
How to Get a Conversation Started with Someone...
Whose occupation you should remember:
“What are you working on these days?” Whom you’ve just sat next to: “How do you know our host?” or “What brings you to this event?”
Who was raised elsewhere:
“What would your life be like if you still lived there?”
Who has children:
“Have you decided to do anything very differently from the way you were raised?”
Whom you’d like to know better:
“Which papers and magazines do you subscribe to? Which web pages do you visit?” (“These questions often reveal a hidden passion, which can make for great conversation,” adds Rubin.)
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Did You Know?
Women talk about themselves approximately one-third of the time; men do so two-thirds of the time
- Robin Dunbar, PhD, director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford
