47 Polite, Clever and Bizarre Conversation Starters

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2 Copyright 2010 Bon Crowder 47 Polite, Clever and Bizarre Conversation Starters 47 Polite, Clever and Bizarre Conversation Starters by Bon Crowder is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. You may keep a copy of this document for your own personal use. You may share this document with your friends, family, colleagues, and other personal contacts. You may share this document with attribution and without modification using , web forums, your blog, or website provided you do not charge any fee for this document. Attribution means attributing Bon Crowder as the author and owner of this document and providing a link to when sharing this document. In other words, if you re going to share this document with other people please link back to my blog at when doing so. About the Author My name is Bon Crowder, I write regular articles at about creative ways to view life, the universe and everything. You can follow me on Twitter at (@idearella) Bon Crowder page 2

3 47 Polite, Clever and Bizarre Conversation Starters Conversations are a pain for some people and a pleasure for others. Regardless of your camp, conversation starters are handy. If you go to many different social events with varying people, you can use the same conversation starters over and over. If your groups tend to have the same people, it would be nice to have other starters to use. How this ebook is organized The title of this ebook is a little deceiving. Each conversation starter included here is polite, clever or bizarre or a combination of these. The starters are sectioned to help you focus in on your personal style. All conversation starters are written to make you look intelligent, well read or knowledgeable about the world. People want to talk to clever and intelligent people. Using any of the conversation starters here will help you stand out. Often, the starters give you lead in information. Occasionally I have included links to the websites where I gathered this information. If you find it interesting or want to gain more information before your social event, you may click on those. Where there is a random fact with no reference, it is because there was no further information and reading to support the fact. Here s a quick rundown of the categories and the page numbers where you can find them: Peaceful and Easy Conversation Starters... 4 Leading and Open Ended Conversation Starters... 4 I like, what do you like Conversation Starters... 5 Conversation Starters Regarding Death... 6 Conversation Starters Involving Parenting... 7 Conversation Starters Involving Crime... 8 Fantastical Conversation Starters... 8 Miscellaneous Conversation Starters Bon Crowder page 3

4 Peaceful and Easy Conversation Starters 1) Lots of rain today, huh? In trying to avoid getting too wet I remembered that the fastest speed a falling raindrop can hit you is 18 mph. ( 2) I am reading this book about conversation starters. Would you like an easy one or a hard one? <regardless of their answer, look thoughtful and respond> Gosh, I can t think of any of those but this book is really interesting. What s the most interesting book you ve ever read? 3) It is very cold outside. Although we shouldn t complain too much, the coldest temperature ever recorded was negative126.9 F in Vostock Station, Antarctica. Today s temperatures were pretty tame compared to that. What is the temperature supposed to be like over the weekend, do you know? 4) My neighbor got into some poison ivy the other day and she can t stop scratching. Are you allergic to anything? Leading and Open Ended Conversation Starters 5) It took a while getting here because of the fog. You know, a cubic mile of ordinary fog contains less than a gallon of water? 6) You look so familiar. Do I know you from somewhere? <wait until they mention an association that sounds interesting and ask them more about that group> 7) Yes, it was a beautiful day. Lots of clouds in the sky. Although, the lifespan of those wonderful fluffy clouds is only about 15 minutes. 8) The thunderstorms last night were great. Too bad we can t harness that energy. A lightening bolt brings 300,000 volts of electricity to the ground Bon Crowder page 4

5 9) I watched a TV show the other day and the family had a globe in one corner of the room. I thought about how often globes change. Isn t it interesting that we still buy and have these things in our homes? 10) I was reading about the tides the other day and how the gravitational pull causes the tides. Since we are made of water, I wonder if the gravitational pull of the moon affect us. 11) People often say that something is all natural and has no chemicals. Isn t water a chemical? It is H2O. What s up with that? I like, what do you like Conversation Starters 12) On the way up in the elevator I was wondering how the conversation would be if we got stuck. It made me think that if I had to get stuck in an elevator, I would want to be stuck with. Who would you like to get stuck with? 13) A friend of mine s water heater went out the other day. He couldn t bathe. Makes me wonder if I would be able to go a week without bathing. I think I could/couldn t. Could you? 14) Strange thing just happened to me on the way in. I heard a very strange noise. I wonder if this place has ghosts. I believe/don t believe in ghosts. Do you believe in ghosts? 15) These are interesting hors d oeuvres. I ve eaten some interesting thingwhat is the most interesting thing you ve ever eaten? 16) I noticed an ad for the circus recently. I wonder how those people end up doing something like that. I mean, there isn t a pre-school for circus entertainers, right? If there was, I think I would be a. What would you be if you had to be in the circus? 2010 Bon Crowder page 5

6 17) I saw a show the other day about haunted houses. I am/am not frightened by these types of things. How do you feel about them? 18) I saw these kids in the mall the other day wearing next to nothing. In addition to being cold, I wondered how the in-style became naked. I m not sure I could wear anything like that. Could you? Conversation Starters Regarding Death 19) My cousin s friend had an aneurism in his stomach. There was nothing they could do about it. The doctor told him that if it ruptured, he would feel it and then he would have about 20 minutes to live. What would you do if you found out you had 20 minutes to live? 20) A friend of mine s grandfather died about a month ago, he was very old and had a great life. He died in his home and before he went, he said, I ve done everything I ever wanted to do. This is the perfect time and place to go. That was amazing. I hope I can say the same thing. What would you think would be the perfect time and place to go? 21) A friend of mine s grandmother died about a month ago, she was very old and had a great life. When she died, she said, I ve done everything I ever wanted to do. Wouldn t that be great? What are some things that you really want to do before you die? 22) I was reading about the death penalty the other day ( People sometimes try to commit suicide and get saved so they can later be put to death. What do you think about that? 23) A buddy of mine once said that when his dog died he planned to have her stuffed. I m not sure I could ever do that. Could you? 2010 Bon Crowder page 6

7 Conversation Starters Involving Parenting 24) (While looking at your own or someone else s child) You know, they say she looks just like her dad. I wonder sometimes if people look for similarities that may not actually be there. Do you think we can force the appearance of likeness just because we really want them to be there? 25) My friend was telling me the other day about how she and her husband make sure their son is out of the room when they have disagreements. I m not sure that is the best idea, but I don t know. What do you think? 26) Did you see that news story the other day about that two year old kid? I can t remember where I read it some online thing in a foreign country. A man insisted on getting a paternity test. When the child turned out to be not his child the mother freaked out. She said that she knew with absolute certainty that she hadn t been with another man. So she had a maternity test done the child wasn t hers either! They are still trying to figure out what to do. What would you do if that happened to you? Do you ever think that your child isn t really yours? 27) I witnessed a woman disciplining a child in the store the other day. It wasn t until a few seconds later that the real mom scolded the woman for disciplining her kids. Do you think it is okay for a stranger to discipline an unruly child even if the child is not their own? 28) A friend of mine s child is far more intelligent than she it. I wonder what it would be like if that were the case if one of my kids were much more intelligent, good looking or successful than I am. How would you handle that? 29) There are people who breast feed their kids until they are 3 or 4 years old. Some even do it until they are 8 or so. Did you or would you breast feed a long time? How do you feel about that? 2010 Bon Crowder page 7

8 Conversation Starters Involving Crime 30) I happened upon a website the other day explaining horrible medieval torture methods ( Is there ever a crime that is really horrible enough for torture? 31) I saw a news story the other day where the police discovered a guy was lying to protect his friend. The guy finally admitted it and now he s going to jail too. It made me wonder which of my friends are worthy of that kind of loyalty, if any. Do you have that kind of loyalty for anyone? 32) I was watching a TV show called Taboo the other day where people sold their kidneys. ( This is now a crime in all countries. Do you think it should be? Do you think it is unethical or immoral to sell an internal organ? 33) Did you see that family on TV the other day that had known that their neighbors were abusing their kids and they didn t say anything for years? Are you the kind of person to blow the whistle on someone if you see an injustice or do you typically try to stay out of things? Fantastical Conversation Starters 34) I was reading some what if questions online the other day. I noticed that many of them asked questions like, would you be willing to do something horrible for a year in exchange for getting something wonderful for the rest of your life. Things like having horrible nightmares or total paralysis in exchange for eradicating hungry children or becoming amazingly wealthy. Is there anything so horrible that you wouldn t do it for even a week in exchange for solving the problem that you believe is most troubling to you? 35) I feel like so much of my time is demanded by others. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be isolated for a week. Would you appreciate being totally left 2010 Bon Crowder page 8

9 alone for a week all your food, bills and stuff like that would be taken care of. Or would that make you crazy? 36) I was sick the other day. That got me thinking about how nice it would be if I could be immune from everything. What would something like that be worth? What would you be willing to pay for that? Would you exchange something for it, like a body part or would you only part with money for it? 37) I was flipping through channels the other day and saw that Superman was on. Some of his super powers were pretty neat. I wondered what super power I would choose if I could have one. What would you choose? 38) I was thinking about time travel the other day after seeing Back to the Future on TV. I wondered what it would be like to actually go into the future. So many times those movies show very fantastic advances when in reality advances that we have seen are very tame. What do you think will actually change over the next 20 years? 39) I was watching a movie about time travel the other day. All the time travel stories seem to involve going back to important or meaningful events. No one goes back to last Thursday so they can pay their phone bill on time. If you had to go back in time to some spot that was completely meaningless, to when would you go? 40) I was thinking about time travel the other day after seeing The Time Machine on TV. Going back in time is a wild concept. I was thinking of the time when I would most like to visit. What time period would you like to visit? If you had to stay forever, to what time period would you go? Miscellaneous Conversation Starters 41) I was watching some people in the mall the other day and noticed some very, well, let s say unattractive people. I m a pretty standard looking Joe and so are you. What do you think would change in our lives if we were tremendously hideous? 2010 Bon Crowder page 9

10 42) A friend of mine visited a wax museum recently and we had been discussing it. I haven t been in a while but I was remembering the bizarre accuracy with which they were detailed. I m not sure I could ever create or work with something so lifelike. Could you? 43) I was watching this show on TV about a man with a secret life (I can t remember what it was called, I just caught a piece of it). I thought that would be so interesting to have a secret life. If you could do something else as a secret, and no one would find out, what would you do? 44) I was driving down the road the other day and I saw a guy throw a McDonald s bag out the window. I commented to my friend how frustrating that is to see. His response was, It gives the civil workers who clean the streets a job. What do you think about this? 45) Did you see that celebrity who visited a third world country and breast fed a starving child? Apparently she had just given birth and her breasts were full. What you think about that? 46) My friend at work is terrified of bugs. I don t mind them at all. Do you have any phobias? 47) Oh, you don t watch TV? Suppose there was a show on TV so compelling that you would purchase a TV and cable and hook up just for that show. What would a show like that have to have? Feedback Thanks for reading 47 Polite, Clever and Bizarre Conversation Starters. I hope you ve found the starters to be both interesting and useful. If you want to share any feedback, please send me an using my contact form at Bon Crowder page 10