Then you turn to the bungee jumper seated on your left and ask him, Do
you prefer chest-waist jumps or ankle jumps? If the conversation then
changes to tennis, or martial arts, or chess, or coin collecting, or even bird-
watching, you can keep up and keep the conversation going. What a guy!
What a gal!
How to Sound Like You Know All About Their Job or Hobby
Even more insidious than hobby-talk is job-speak, or Jobbledgook. I
still harbor social nightmares of the evening I attended a party thrown by a
couple who worked in computer database maagement. As I walked in the
door, I overheard one chap saying to another, When the domain relational
calculus is restricted to safe expressions, its equivalent to the turple
relational....
Thats all I stayed around for. I knew I wasnt going to undestand one bit
or byte of conversation the rest of the evening. It made me long for the days
when a mouse meant the furry little fellow who loves cheese, windows
were the kind you bought drapes for, and the web was something spiders
trapped flies in. I knew I was going to need some technical support if I was
going to be compatible with this crowd.
I decided then and there to learn some of the opening quetions database
management types ask each other. Which I did. Now I cant wait for a
second chance at that crowd because Im armed with questions like What
raid level are you using? and What data warehousing product do you use?
All you need are a few insider opening questions to get you started with
any group. You ask questions, listen to the responses, and indulge in
elementary on-target conversation with them for a
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How to Sound Like You Know All About Their Job or Hobby 151
moment or two about their field. (Then change the subject ASAP! You
dont want to fake you are more knowledgeable about their field than you
really are.)
Its All in the Opening Question
A tennis player can tell immediately from just appraising your opening
serve how good a player you are. Is it going to be great playing with you or
a real bore? Its the same in communicating. Just from your verbal opening
serve, someone knows if its going to be interesting talking with you about
their life or interestsor dull, dull, dull.
ooja
(Ooja)
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