Surviving Holiday Small Talk

After he returned from his famous tour through the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that the nation’s residents did not seem to possess the gift of gab.

“An American cannot converse,” he wrote, “but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation.”
Bernardo Carducci, a psychology professor at Indiana University Southeast and an expert in small talk, might say that the people de Tocqueville encountered made a rookie conversation mistake: talking too much and too long about one’s favorite topics. (Of course, he might also say that making insulting generalizations is not a great conversation strategy, either.)

Thanksgiving week means the holidays are officially upon us, which means it’s time for parties. And it's also time for small talk: hours upon hours of two-inch-deep conversations with people you barely know and may never see again. While juggling eggnog and a flimsy plate.

For some, idle chit-chat is tolerable, even pleasurable—it’s the broth that keeps the meat of the party afloat. Others would prefer waiting in the DMV line with a stab wound to a few minutes of pleasantries at the punch bowl.

For More: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/surviving-holiday-small-talk/383103/

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