Politeness [curi Video]

Its nice to get your perspective on politeness and small talk. I don’t think I could have guessed with confidence what ideas you had on this topic. I would have guessed that you would see as it a tradition and that you had some criticisms of it (about how it could be improved). I wouldn’t know what those criticisms are though. I have not really thought about how to improve politeness in general but I do sometimes plan out a bit of small talk for an IRL conversation. Its seems to make some (maybe most) interactions go a bit better.

I think a decent proportion of people like talking about the weather, traffic, upcoming concerts/events, or products they have purchased recently. Those kinds of conversations are at least comfortable and not negative. Sometimes asking about daily life stuff can result in getting some good tips for my own life too. I like getting that kind of information from people, and its something that at least some people enjoying teaching others about. I don’t find politeness and small talk come very naturally. It is hard to tell what people want and, when I can remember, I do try to aim for more of a “lowest common denominator” style of communication.

In the context of American culture, I guess and distinct lack of politeness is a bad sign. It might indicate negative emotion or bias. I have not put time into criticizing politeness and I’m probably not ready to even make an attempt. My plan is to try to stick to normal/traditional communication methods whenever I don’t see any obvious problems doing so.