如何与别人闲聊：试试中度聊天.docVIP

如何与别人闲聊：试试中度聊天 　　A couple of weeks ago， I went to someone’s birthday party at a bar after work. The birthday girl was a friend of a friend―I was there to hang out with the friend. As often happens at such events， I found myself standing next to someone I didn’t know and positioned in a way where we basically had to talk to one another. It would have been weird， otherwise―we had been accidentally shunted out of the main conversational circle （it was a small gathering） and weren’t close enough to its center to be able to pretend to listen to what was going on. We were marooned with one another. 　　These sorts of conversations are weird. When the connection between you and the other person is tenuous， as it was between myself and this woman， both parties know there’s a pretty good chance this will be the only conversation the two will ever have with one another. You will meet， talk briefly about your jobs or the weather， part ways， and then， in the long run， live the rest of your lives and die without ever speaking again. 　　Our conversation quickly fell into the usual rut： “What do you do？” “That’s cool！” “Here’s what I do.” “Wow， okay.” She said she worked at a small museum that contained the papers and various artsy artifacts of some deceased rich guy （I can’t even remember which one）. Without even thinking about it， I asked， “What’s your least favorite piece in the collection？” Something shifted in the conversation. She said something like， “Nobody’s ever asked me this. People always ask what my favorite piece is.” I mentally high-fived myself， usually an awkward person who does not thrive in small-talk scenarios， for having at least thrown things off their usual course. 　　Little did I know there was a name for what I had done： medium talk. “What kind of questions would you ask to make medium talk， instead of small talk？” asked user Sentinel_P， and the query garnered more than 3，500 comments. 　　The question got the reaction it did because it walks a tricky l