Small Talk

When it comes down to it, the art of small talk is not something that the English excel at (I say English rather more than British). Witness the trains, buses and undergrounds crammed full that are usually complete vacuums for human conversation - unless its between two or more friends. Indeed, the over-riding impression, certainly in most British cities, is that you're all to busy going somewhere to think about chatting with someone on the journey. It's also very much like that in the US cities i've been in - New York, Chicago, Washington DC - people are all to busy hurrying to the next appointment or lunch or leg wax or whatever, but whereas in the UK, we sit in stony silence, you can't really shut people up over here.This is also the case in Charleston. A number of times as i've gone about my daily business, people will happily chat to you given the chance. This morning i went for coffee and had a five minute chat about the pluses and minuses of drinking decaf over regular to a lady who i've never met before and probably never will meet again. Conversation end, we both wished each other a good day (as opposed to 'a nice day') and off we went. It's nice and pleasant - a 'no strings' chat if you will (once the talk is done, that's that).

Compare this to an anecdote from Jeremy Paxman's very good book on the English as a race. Two Englishmen meet whilst riding on camels in a very empty desert. The camels, happy for the company, refuse to move for some time. The men, being English, both sit there resolutely in silence - not wanting to speak first and not really sure how to go about it. I say they should have just said 'sod it' and started talking about the weather. But then i guess you can only say so much about ridiculously hot sunshine (as well i know!). Anyway, the moral of this story is that, to paraphrase Bob Hoskins, 'It's Good To Talk'. So get on with it!