Something to Talk About: Random Topics and Questions

Quick chat tips before you pick a topic

• Ask open questions ("what was the best part of your week?") instead of yes/no ones.
• Answer your own question too, so it feels like a talk and not an interview.
• Follow their answer with one more question. Better small talk is mostly listening.
• If a topic dies, switch. Having something to talk about ready saves the chat.

How to never run out of something to talk about

Good conversations are not about having perfect questions. Ask one open question, listen, then ask about a detail in the answer. "I went to Goa" becomes "What was the best thing you ate there?" Share a little about yourself too, so it feels like a talk and not an interview. Start light with small talk, then move to bigger topics once the chat feels easy.

Easy small talk

1. What did you do today that was actually fun?
2. What are you eating these days that you cannot stop eating?
3. Morning person or night owl?
4. What is the last thing you watched that you liked?
5. Tea or coffee, and how strong?

Random topics

1. If you could live in any city for one year, which one?
2. What is a skill you would learn overnight if you could?
3. What is the most useless thing you are good at?
4. Which app would you delete forever if you had to pick one?
5. What would your perfect Sunday look like?

Topics to talk about with friends

1. What is a memory with friends you still laugh about?
2. Which trip should we plan next, if money was no problem?
3. What is something you changed your mind about this year?
4. Who in your family are you most like?
5. What song always takes you back to school days?

Big talk questions

1. What does a good life look like to you?
2. What is something you are proud of that nobody knows?
3. What are you most afraid of getting wrong?
4. What advice would you give your younger self?
5. When do you feel most like yourself?

Fun would-you-rather

1. Would you rather know every language or play every instrument?
2. Would you rather never use social media again or never watch a movie again?
3. Would you rather time travel to the past or the future?
4. Would you rather live without music or without movies?
5. Would you rather be famous or rich and unknown?

Better small talk in three steps

1. Skip "hi, wbu". Open with a real question from the lists above. 2. Follow the thread. Pick one word from their answer and ask more about it. 3. Give something back. Answer your own question too. If the other person still gives one-word replies after a couple of tries, it is fine to move on.

Practise with someone new

Want to try these topics? On Stranger Talk you can start a free random chat with a new person, and every chat has built-in icebreakers and 10 chat games like Truth or Dare and Would You Rather. More openers are on the conversation starters page.