Feifei Hello. This is The English We Speak. This is Rob…
Rob And this is Feifei. So, Feifei, how did the blind date go?
Feifei Not great – a disaster in fact.
Rob Oh no. Why didn’t you just follow my advice?
Feifei I did! Wear something nice, turn up late and make small talk.
Rob Yes, make small talk. Exactly.
Feifei Well, when I started making small talk, the guy looked at me in a strange way and then walked off.
Rob Oh no. What did you say?
Feifei Things like ‘hi’, ‘good’, ‘yes’, ’no’, ‘great’ – small words.
Rob But no sentences? I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick here – I mean you’ve misunderstood – making small talk means making informal conversation about unimportant things. If you’re meeting someone for the first time, it’s a good way to make them feel relaxed – you know, break the ice.
Feifei Right! Make ‘small’ conversation.
Rob I guess we should hear some examples…
Examples I didn’t know anybody at my cousin’s wedding so I tried to make small talk with the guests.
I’m shy and not very good at small talk. That’s why I hate going to parties.
At the office party, we all had to stand around making small talk, but all I really wanted to do was go home!
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. And we’re learning about the expression ‘small talk’ – that’s informal conversation which is meant to make people feel more relaxed and stops any embarrassing silence. Actually, Rob, I do know about small talk. It’s just that…
Rob So, why didn’t you say?
Feifei Well, I was going to tell you that…
Rob You’ll never get a boyfriend if you don’t speak up, Feifei! You really need to talk more.
Feifei Rob.
Rob Yes?
Feifei What I was trying to say was, I did not have time for small talk because my date would not stop talking. He was rude, arrogant and wouldn’t let me get a word in edgeways! Now, who does that remind me of?!
Rob Err… Nice weather for the time of year, don’t you think?
Feifei It’s a bit late for small talk now, Rob. You’ve said far too much.
Rob Oh.
Feifei Bye bye!
Rob Bye!