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[](https://theelizabethday.substack.com/) # [](https://theelizabethday.substack.com/) Subscribe Sign in # 133 Non-Boring Questions To Start A Conversation ### Avoid meaningless small talk forever with this handy guide\! [](https://substack.com/@theelizabethday) [Elizabeth Day](https://substack.com/@theelizabethday) Aug 01, 2025 ∙ Paid 1,403 5 113 Share Last week, [I posted a clip on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMkLeBTodrR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) of the comedian Mae Martin confessing on my podcast, How To Fail, that they *hated* small talk. The idea of it was enough to prevent them from going to parties and triggering a social anxiety spiral. So Martin came up with an elegant solution: they devised a list of handy quick-fire questions designed to elicit revealing, funny and interesting answers. In this way, they always had a prompt for conversation. [](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IW_-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbd26eb7-fdb4-4ff7-ade0-5736b9e0e988_3088x2316.jpeg) Mae Martin: hater of small talk. I shared some of Martin’s questions in the clip (for example: ‘Tortoise or Zebra? Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise?’) and I asked my followers to come up with their own. Well. To say I was *flooded* with replies doesn’t quite cover it. I was veritably deluged. Inundated to the point of saturation. And then I got lots of people asking me to share the best ones. So, here they are: 132 questions designed to start a conversation that goes way deeper than just chit-chatting about the weather. Feel free to save, share and comment with your preferred non-boring conversation starters below. 1. What is your favourite thing about being alive? 2. Dog or cat person? 3. Is there life after death 4. What’s your book recommendation? 5. What would your job be in prison? 6. Have you ever been arrested? 7. How much can you bench? 8. What do you like to do? 9. What are your biggest insecurities? 10. Have you ever experienced a friendship break-up? 11. What’s your favourite book? 12. If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about your life? 13. How did you decide to call your child or pet the name you did? Or: how did your parents name you? 14. Where have you enjoyed travelling or visiting? 15. What’s your favourite Billy Joel song? 16. What are you currently reading? 17. Do you know where the toilets are? 18. Anything weighing on your mind lately? 19. Any craic? 20. What is truth? 21. Favourite holiday you’ve ever been on? 22. If skill, experience or capability were no issue, what profession would you like to have? 23. What’s the one thing in your house you don’t think anyone else has? 24. What lunch box did you have as a kid? 25. Have you ever farted in a lift? 26. Rank your favourite forms of potato? 27. Shall we not talk about the weather? 28. If you had to be an inanimate object for a day, what would you wish to be and why? 29. You’re preparing for Armageddon but only allowed three types of tinned food - what would you choose? 30. If you had a soundtrack to your life, what would it be? 31. Have you ever taken a hallucinogenic drug? 32. What’s keeping you busy this week? 33. What’s your favourite sandwich? 34. How would you rate your day out of 10 so far and why? 35. Would you like to see a picture of my dog? 36. Fries or chips? 37. What’s your favourite Madonna song? (You can choose one classic and one modern). 38. Sweet or salty popcorn? 39. Red or blue? 40. Favourite chocolate bar or crisp? 41. If you were a celebrity, what reality TV show would you say yes to? 42. What is your favourite cheese? 43. What’s your favourite condiment? 44. What biscuit do you most identify with? 45. When was the last time you quit? 46. Would you prefer to have teeth for pubic hair or pubic hair for teeth? 47. What do you like to do for fun? 48. What’s your hot take or unpopular opinion? 49. What are you passionate about? 50. What did you eat for lunch today? 51. What’s one thing that surprised you about today? 52. What’s a totally normal thing you have never done? Mine is swim. 53. So what \*don’t\* you do? 54. What’s something that’s been fun for you this week? 55. What would be your death row meal? 56. Anchovies or oysters? 57. If you had a secret passage, where would you want it to lead? 58. What is your main passion in life? 59. What blood type are you? 60. Is a hamburger a sandwich? 61. Do you squiggle or splodge ketchup on chips? 62. What makes you come alive? 63. How will AI affect your job? 64. What are you most proud of about yourself? 65. What would your prison strategy be? 66. Would you rather be a duck-sized horse or a horse-sized duck? 67. What made you smile today?  ## Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Elizabeth Day. 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Last week, [I posted a clip on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMkLeBTodrR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) of the comedian Mae Martin confessing on my podcast, How To Fail, that they *hated* small talk. The idea of it was enough to prevent them from going to parties and triggering a social anxiety spiral. So Martin came up with an elegant solution: they devised a list of handy quick-fire questions designed to elicit revealing, funny and interesting answers. In this way, they always had a prompt for conversation. [](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IW_-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbd26eb7-fdb4-4ff7-ade0-5736b9e0e988_3088x2316.jpeg) Mae Martin: hater of small talk. I shared some of Martin’s questions in the clip (for example: ‘Tortoise or Zebra? Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise?’) and I asked my followers to come up with their own. Well. To say I was *flooded* with replies doesn’t quite cover it. I was veritably deluged. Inundated to the point of saturation. And then I got lots of people asking me to share the best ones. So, here they are: 132 questions designed to start a conversation that goes way deeper than just chit-chatting about the weather. Feel free to save, share and comment with your preferred non-boring conversation starters below. 1. What is your favourite thing about being alive? 2. Dog or cat person? 3. Is there life after death 4. What’s your book recommendation? 5. What would your job be in prison? 6. Have you ever been arrested? 7. How much can you bench? 8. What do you like to do? 9. What are your biggest insecurities? 10. Have you ever experienced a friendship break-up? 11. What’s your favourite book? 12. If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about your life? 13. How did you decide to call your child or pet the name you did? Or: how did your parents name you? 14. Where have you enjoyed travelling or visiting? 15. What’s your favourite Billy Joel song? 16. What are you currently reading? 17. Do you know where the toilets are? 18. Anything weighing on your mind lately? 19. Any craic? 20. What is truth? 21. Favourite holiday you’ve ever been on? 22. If skill, experience or capability were no issue, what profession would you like to have? 23. What’s the one thing in your house you don’t think anyone else has? 24. What lunch box did you have as a kid? 25. Have you ever farted in a lift? 26. Rank your favourite forms of potato? 27. Shall we not talk about the weather? 28. If you had to be an inanimate object for a day, what would you wish to be and why? 29. You’re preparing for Armageddon but only allowed three types of tinned food - what would you choose? 30. If you had a soundtrack to your life, what would it be? 31. Have you ever taken a hallucinogenic drug? 32. What’s keeping you busy this week? 33. What’s your favourite sandwich? 34. How would you rate your day out of 10 so far and why? 35. Would you like to see a picture of my dog? 36. Fries or chips? 37. What’s your favourite Madonna song? (You can choose one classic and one modern). 38. Sweet or salty popcorn? 39. Red or blue? 40. Favourite chocolate bar or crisp? 41. If you were a celebrity, what reality TV show would you say yes to? 42. What is your favourite cheese? 43. What’s your favourite condiment? 44. What biscuit do you most identify with? 45. When was the last time you quit? 46. Would you prefer to have teeth for pubic hair or pubic hair for teeth? 47. What do you like to do for fun? 48. What’s your hot take or unpopular opinion? 49. What are you passionate about? 50. What did you eat for lunch today? 51. What’s one thing that surprised you about today? 52. What’s a totally normal thing you have never done? Mine is swim. 53. So what \*don’t\* you do? 54. What’s something that’s been fun for you this week? 55. What would be your death row meal? 56. Anchovies or oysters? 57. If you had a secret passage, where would you want it to lead? 58. What is your main passion in life? 59. What blood type are you? 60. Is a hamburger a sandwich? 61. Do you squiggle or splodge ketchup on chips? 62. What makes you come alive? 63. How will AI affect your job? 64. What are you most proud of about yourself? 65. What would your prison strategy be? 66. Would you rather be a duck-sized horse or a horse-sized duck? 67. What made you smile today?