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Levels of talk, small talk etc

TheCatWoman

We sort of know what small talk is and that most of us struggle with it.

But are there other levels of talk?

Big talk I suppose we'd mostly define as talking in depth about either important things or things we're particularly knowlegeable of.

But what about medium talk? Is there such a thing? What is it and why do we hear so little about it?

  • Medium talk is an interesting idea. Most conversation day to day is probably medium talk. I sometimes like it myself, for example returning the 'have a nice afternoon' from a supermarket operator by asking about their day. they often say something like, 'I'm at college' so it's nice to return the favour by showing interest in their subject. It's not small talk or big talk, but a bit more than a conversation. 

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    Fearn and I speak in Doggeral to each other.

    Boris and I are becoming proficient in each others languages, for example he says hello and calls me by name, I an speak a little cat.

    But the question of medium talk struck me because there isn't such a thing, there's a whole level of social conversation, after small talk, thats never talked about or explained. As an autistic person, I find this a bit confusing and wonder if it might be a cause of social difficulties?

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    There probably isn’t a medium talk because the English language evolved without needing a term like medium  talk. 

    The term ‘small talk’ could have evolved to be called something entirely different like ‘frivolous talk’. Words aren’t always literal.

    To make small talk in the Italian language is ‘fare conversazione’, literally, to ‘make conversation’. It’s not always literal either because it can mean conversation or it can apply to small talk, there isn’t a separate term.

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    Why isn't there medium talk though, I agree with Alexa though and it's probably a conversation with more depth than small talk but not enough to be big talk.

  • There isn’t a medium talk but there is ‘professional conversation’ such as between a solicitor and client or between work colleagues. Then there is ‘romantic talk’ between lovers and canine talk between humans and their dogs. 

    I could go on …

  • "Small talk" is one of those phrases that only apply to one thing, so there is no medium or big talk. For me, there is only talk (hopefully about a subject that interests me) or social chit-chat/small talk. But your question has made me think. If there was a medium talk, for me it would be when people talk about a subject superficially, just exchanging simplistic opinions without delving deeper.