What to talk to random people about?

Basically I'm really shy and quite often just stay amongst my mates when out.

Main reason for this though is I just don't know what to talk to other people about, say a random person at the bar, you know make light conversation and stuff?

I want to meet more people and get more friends but just not sure what to talk about to people I don't really know.

Reply 1

dragonlance

"so you been working today" if yes ask "where do you work" then if she said something else ask "what do you exactly do" "do you like working there" must be a good night to rest and unwind then. "do u want a drink?" "i think you owe me a dance for that drink"

Reply 2

aMasterPieceOfDNA

Sex is a good place to start.

Reply 3

Parus major

...and a good place to end

Reply 4

Johnny 5

12

Don't get tied up in banalities. If you ask someone what they did last week, to which they reply "not much", don't then ask them what they did that day, and what their plans are for next week. This marks you out as a moron with absolutely no originality whatsoever.

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

OP

Anything else?

Reply 6

bedbug

14

Just have a chat! Are you having a good night? Are you moving on anywhere? What do you do - college/uni/job etc?

I think the trick is not to ask too many questions though - you don't want to sound like you're interrogating the person, but you want to seem interested enough in them so that they want to continue talking to you. Just comment about the place, the music, anything. I think if you just relax you can't really go wrong - nobody expects you to make all the effort in the conversation, see what the other person says/asks and go from there.

Reply 7

Clarence

14

Talk about random things, such as, the situation your in, if your having a good time or whatever....things just usually come out of conversation, relax and have a good time with it.

Reply 8

Ethereal

19

squirly

Just have a chat! Are you having a good night? Are you moving on anywhere? What do you do - college/uni/job etc?

I think the trick is not to ask too many questions though - you don't want to sound like you're interrogating the person, but you want to seem interested enough in them so that they want to continue talking to you. Just comment about the place, the music, anything. I think if you just relax you can't really go wrong - nobody expects you to make all the effort in the conversation, see what the other person says/asks and go from there.

I know someone who expects other people to put all the effort into conversations.

Reply 9

slk999

15

Be CASUAL. Yeah, casual? Casual, yeah. Definitely casual.

I.e. DON'T think *OMG OMG OMG STRANGER WHAT THE F* CK DO I SAY?!* then you c* ck up monumentally.

Something like "Hey. Maybe a comment about what you're doing right now? The music? The food? Anything really. If you're bold enough to be in a situation where you're talking to randomers, you're clever enough to make up something about the situation. Ice breaker done. Then maybe say been up to much today? General conversation and the like.

Reply 10

M'Lady

12

Yesterday I got talking to a girl in the jacuzi at my gym. The conversation started with the lifeguard inflicting his music on everyone else, which led onto waterproof mp3 players, then the sign with warnings on about the jacuzi.....eventually we started talking about home life, parents and university. It was great, because it's so awkward having strangers in the jacuzi sometimes, it's like sharing a bathtub with someone from a bus stop or something.

Reply 11

Anonymous #2

you can always start with the weather. lol.

but i find that music is a good icebreaker amongst people my age (15-17).

Reply 12

Mangaroo

12

random things, please dont start with weather, ask on something you can see about them...reply with questions if you want the conversation to keep going

Reply 13

username30638

13

Baseball. Talk about baseball.

Reply 14

marcusfox

16

aMasterPieceOfDNA

Sex is a good place to start.

Don't have sex man. That leads to kissing, and pretty much soon after that you have to start talking to them.

Marcus

Reply 15

slk999

15

Mangaroo

random things, please dont start with weather, ask on something you can see about them...reply with questions if you want the conversation to keep going

I mean, the weather is ALWAYS the same old boring thing isn't it? Never changes. Ever.

But in all serioussness, you're right. At the risk of sounding like a socially inadequate geography teacher who wears socks with sandals, DON'T talk about the weather :smile:

Reply 16

Ethereal

19

Someone I knew at uni famously went up to a girl and said "I could get people to drive past your house and shoot you if I wanted."

LOL, needless to say that didn't break the ice too well.

Reply 17

poltroon

Stay calm. If you try too hard you will appear distracted and the other half of the conversation will lose interest. As for what to say, anything will do. A greeting would be customary, though.

Reply 18

TheWildChild

11

cielo

I mean, the weather is ALWAYS the same old boring thing isn't it? Never changes. Ever.

But in all serioussness, you're right. At the risk of sounding like a socially inadequate geography teacher who wears socks with sandals, DON'T talk about the weather :smile:

haha. at work, i ALWAYS talk to people about the weather and it works a treat.

gets them relaxed, talkative and end up talkign about other crap. eg told them how i hurt my hand playing football with my brothers :s-smilie:

random. all starting from weather. most of these people are middle aged tho so it's alot easier. and diff to the whole bar situation....

Reply 19

xoxo_GossipGirl

11

Just have a drink before you start talking to someone, drinking helps no end, I can talk to pretty much anybody about anything once I've had a few, and I don't mean get wasted, just a couple to loosen you up a bit

What to talk to random people about?

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