pick a little.. talk a little.

I'm not very good at being amazed by what people say.

I've never been convincing enough.

Sometimes, sure, you say something that triggers shock, horror, or interest, and I’m going to give you a gasp or a giggle.

If you mention that the world’s average IQ is dropping while I'm watching the inane formalities extended by those trying to leave a party, but are queued behind those both immediately blocking the door and offering their thanks to the host…
Rousing the idea that since the world’s IQ is dropping, we’ll probably have even more idiotic forms of goodbyes mixed with smarmy false gratitude in the future…
To which you reply that in a few generations, people will just start in with gratuitous group hugs. Everyone must be hugged upon entry. At business meetings, homeroom class, football games, the news room. Having to repeat the process for each straggler who comes in late.
It might go on for ages.

Anyway, say something like that to me, you’ll probably have me laughing. (You did, A—).

But most things? Pardon, was the laugh supposed to have been bigger? Apologies, were we supposed to have gasped at the big reveal? ... That was your reveal?

One feels it all the time. People holding out a laugh on their own joke until others are forced to join in out of social nicety. The expectant look on someone’s face as they wait for their genius to wash over you.. Their eyes wild and waiting.

If you've mentioned something you've just learned, and I happen to be familiar with the topic. I’ll say, yes, me too (in some form)… But I’m not going to lie and ask you to tell me all you've learned, doe-eyed and acquiescent. Or if you’re offering opinions, and mine differs, I might politely offer mine.

I’m not a jerk (most of the time).

Why, when people talk, do they expect no one to disagree with their thesis, and when offered another point of view, are affronted by it?

I've run into this quite a few times in the past couple years.

I’m not sure if I’m just getting older, and it’s because I’m surrounded by early to mid-twenty-year-old's. Or if it’s a symptom of helicopter parents. Perhaps it’s over-affirmation in the social media realm — the need for the +1.

Whatever the origins of such behaviour, it makes for intriguing people watching — particularly with your eyes on the person trying to escape a conversation — but often mind-numbing dialog to listen in on.