Casual talk with strangers is a distinct and common urban pleasure

Evidence

The city dweller seeking adventure in public space is not limited to involving himself or herself in deception; he or she is not limited to unconventional gaming. Public spaces may also be the settings for the mild but quite pleasant adventures of simply encountering and conversing with people one has never met before; that is, with strangers. … I refer, rather, to the verbal encounters between strangers that are not simply “built in” to the role that either is playing; to such experiences as exchanging pleasantries with the person sitting next to one on the bus, as joining one’s cafeteria tablemate in conversation, as passing a few words with the people with whom one is waiting in line, as picking up a date in a bar, as meeting someone in a grocery store and inviting him home to dinner. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 990

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘conventional encounters’ by distinguishing them from both task-bound role exchanges and the earlier unconventional gaming/deception cases.