alt Hacker NewsThe one thing that really surprised me, the thing I learned that's affected my conversational abilities the most: turn taking in conversation is a negotiation: there are no set rules. There are protocols: - bids - holds / stays - implications (semantic / prosodic)
But then the actual flow of the conversation is deeply semantic in the best conversations, and the rules are very much a "dance" or a negotiation between partners.
That's an interesting way to think about it, I like that.
It also implies that being the person who has something to say but is unable to get into the conversation due to following the conversational semantics is akin to going to a dance in your nice clothes but not being able to find a dance partner.