I was positively surprised by this article. Much better than I anticipated... It's good to remind myself that in social gatherings what matters is not what is

I was positively surprised by this article. Much better than I anticipated... It's good to remind myself that in social gatherings what matters is not what is being discussed, but rather how it is being discussed. I used to hate small-talk because I thought I learned nothing while doing it, but then I realized that small-talk is not an exchange of verbal information, but rather a way to categorize and label strangers, and to find common ground that may lead to less superficial discussion. Once I figured that out, small-talk became a challenge: if you know the rules of the game, you can play it to your advantage.