Yeah. It's small on that level. But it's not small if that is the conversation that allows someone you both haven't yet met to feel at ease in joining in to ch

Yeah. It's small on that level. But it's not small if that is the conversation that allows someone you both haven't yet met to feel at ease in joining in to chat with you. That makes it powerful, because it leads on to people introducing themselves, more common ground being found, etc. Also, it might be the only kind of talk that can "break the ice" in the general case. I mean -- imagine replacing small talk with a deep question about politics or science or music theory. It couldn't work so well in general. That is what I mean about its significance. Almost all of us exist solely because of small talk between our until-then-unknown-to-each-other parents, for example. "Small" talk is the beginning of almost everything.