Perplexed said something smart, but here are my drunk brainstorming ideas:
Do you believe in God? Why or why not? (people are usually willing to answer this, but they’ll get offended in a hurry if you argue)
What experience in life have you learned the most from?
What was your favorite subject in school? Do you still follow it?
Do you think it’s worthwhile to give to charity? Which ones? Do you give to them? (see God question caveat, and the last question is extra offensive if they have to say no)
What do you think about him? (Mention someone you both know personally or indicate a person who can’t easily overhear)
What do you do when you don’t have to do anything else?
I like some of those, particularly the last one—I’ve seen something similar, which was “what could you talk about for hours?”
I’m reluctant to ask “most,” “least,” or “favorite” questions, because almost nobody has good prepared answers, except to the trivial ones like “favorite color.” Which is not an effective question for getting insight into someone’s worldview.
I like asking people what their favorite playing card is, and acting confused if they don’t have one (but about half the time they either already had one or are willing to make one up to play along).
The ten of diamonds is the “good ten”, and worth two points (more than any other single card) in cassino, my favorite card game. Why the jack of hearts?
Highly ranked enough to be human, but humble among them. Hearts connotes sociality (on that test I lean towards diamonds, but if we’re talking about real life rather than gaming I’m much more a heart).
Personally, I’m annoyed by people who say “you can ask me anything, go ahead” (especially in response to the “most private thing” prompt on OKC). It’s a way of putting the burden of making conversation on the other person, instead of sharing it with them.
Meh… The more I think about it, the more I love prompting your interlocutor to gossip about a third person. You can potentially learn:
-How interested she is in other people
-How willing she is to talk about other people behind their backs
-How much she knows about other people
-What qualities she values in other people
-Whether she tends to judge people generously or not
plus whatever actual facts you may manage to glean about their relationship with said third party! It’s great! It’s kind of ethically shady, but I am drunk and willing to overlook that for the sake of argument.
Edit: Ok grumpy people, let me clarify: drunk people don’t format good and don’t really spend a lot of time reading instructions, I know it’s there, tyvm.
Perplexed said something smart, but here are my drunk brainstorming ideas:
Do you believe in God? Why or why not? (people are usually willing to answer this, but they’ll get offended in a hurry if you argue)
What experience in life have you learned the most from?
What was your favorite subject in school? Do you still follow it?
Do you think it’s worthwhile to give to charity? Which ones? Do you give to them? (see God question caveat, and the last question is extra offensive if they have to say no)
What do you think about him? (Mention someone you both know personally or indicate a person who can’t easily overhear)
What do you do when you don’t have to do anything else?
I like some of those, particularly the last one—I’ve seen something similar, which was “what could you talk about for hours?”
I’m reluctant to ask “most,” “least,” or “favorite” questions, because almost nobody has good prepared answers, except to the trivial ones like “favorite color.” Which is not an effective question for getting insight into someone’s worldview.
I like asking people what their favorite playing card is, and acting confused if they don’t have one (but about half the time they either already had one or are willing to make one up to play along).
That’s funny. I don’t particularly have an opinion about playing cards but I thought of one immediately when I read that.
My favorite is the ten of diamonds; what’s yours? :)
Mana Maze.
Har har.
Jack of hearts. Why yours?
The ten of diamonds is the “good ten”, and worth two points (more than any other single card) in cassino, my favorite card game. Why the jack of hearts?
Highly ranked enough to be human, but humble among them. Hearts connotes sociality (on that test I lean towards diamonds, but if we’re talking about real life rather than gaming I’m much more a heart).
Actually, the most informative prepared question is probably this one:
And then what do you do if they say “no”? :)
Personally, I’m annoyed by people who say “you can ask me anything, go ahead” (especially in response to the “most private thing” prompt on OKC). It’s a way of putting the burden of making conversation on the other person, instead of sharing it with them.
Meh… The more I think about it, the more I love prompting your interlocutor to gossip about a third person. You can potentially learn: -How interested she is in other people -How willing she is to talk about other people behind their backs -How much she knows about other people -What qualities she values in other people -Whether she tends to judge people generously or not plus whatever actual facts you may manage to glean about their relationship with said third party! It’s great! It’s kind of ethically shady, but I am drunk and willing to overlook that for the sake of argument.
Edit: Hey guys I fail at lists sorry
Under the comment box to the right, you’ll find a little help link.
Edit: Ok grumpy people, let me clarify: drunk people don’t format good and don’t really spend a lot of time reading instructions, I know it’s there, tyvm.