Scott Adams Blog: Conversation
A conversation, like dancing, has some rules, although I've never seen them stated anywhere. The objective of conversation is to entertain or inform the other person while not using up all of the talking time. A big part of how you entertain another person is by listening and giving your attention. Ideally, your own enjoyment from conversation comes from the other person doing his or her job of being interesting. If you are entertaining yourself at the other person's expense, you're doing it wrong.
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Adams dissects dance and conversation from the point of view of an alien and Asperger syndrome sufferer. Conclusions are dangerously close to the ones I'd expect from the latter.
