Talk to me about the weather
Oh yes, let's pretend one of the most influential aspects of our living world in which we have zero control over is not interesting
When it comes to small talk, the weather has always been the lowest of the lows. When it’s brought up, you know the conversation is going south. (Abort ship!!)
I recently listened to the first episode of The Atlantic’s new podcast “How to Talk to People”. The hosts share tips and chat with experts about their research on small talk.
As you can probably guess, part of the overall theme of the podcast is how to avoid talking about the weather–– it’s alluded that mentioning the weather is devoid of anything interesting, rich, or, even, likable.
Oscar Wilde even said, “Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
Oscar bruh, what? I find the weather more interesting than Wilde’s writing. The weather affects all of us, every day, in every way. Since when did one of the greatest things that influence our day-to-day become uncool to talk about?
Friends, we don’t need to pretend we are “above" talking about the weather, that any talk of the weather is unintelligent. We are so not above it. In fact, the weather is a prime example of how we are the ones below the weather.
The weather reminds us how little we matter, how little control we have over our lives, and how we are just little humans on a planet here for a short while. While the atmosphere puts on a show for us through heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, and rain, we run to the grocery store and pay our bills.