Some of these just seem like things people say when they don't want to dig in to a conversation for convenience, or don't have an interesting reply. The article

Some of these just seem like things people say when they don't want to dig in to a conversation for convenience, or don't have an interesting reply. The article sort of lays them out as having a type of sideways intention, but often these ones are more benign. I think there are probably better examples.