I don't want to be a snob

All of us are given a package and some packages do not contain the capability to converse. But these packages contain other capabilities which one needs to acknowledge.

The issue here is not about intelligent conversation but the ability to converse. Again I'm saying that one need not be highly intellectual to keep a conversation interesting.

But we are discussing about conversation here and when one does not have that capability then surely he or she must be good at something else and that is indeed acknowledged in that aspect. I'm not judging a person's totality but his capability of carrying on a conversation.

I am not complaining about people who have different opinions than me and in fact I can talk to them for hours having a healthy argument. And I don't believe one can be so forgetful as to ask about my time zone and how can you converse with someone who asks about your time? It's not even on the list of a conversation starter unless you wanna use it as a puck up line and if you use it as a pick up line, you wouldn't ask the same person again and again. A good conversationalist and a sincere one is someone who shows interest by being a good listener and being able to ask questions that would generate ideas from the speaker. One need not know everything but one must at least show interest in things. A conversation is a two way process and when you talk to someone and he answers you with just ok or hmmm, it means that that he must killed the conversation, but you don't have to stop there if you're a good conversationalist.

Yes there is a list of conversation starters. I teach them that's why i knew them and like i said there is such a person who is a conversation killer. With regards to ok and hmm, it's not only the words but how they were used in the conversation. And definitely i have the right to stop talking to someone who doesn't even share even just a minute of interest.

Lol! I meant the forgetful part as a joke! Hahaha. =P I agree with what you said about good conversationalists. Two points though: 1) Saying ok or hmmm in conversation may also be used to show interest or show that one is listening. For instance, if I am telling a story in chat, I would feel bad somehow if, after sending line after line of story, it turns out that the person I am chatting with got up from his seat and walked away from the computer. Basically, I was talking to myself the whole time. But if the person is there, and interjects an ok or hmmm every now and then, it's like saying, 'hey, I'm still here, and I'm listening'. (I do this a lot myself.) Maybe it is just that the person did not want to break your line of thought that's why what he said is limited to just ok or hmmm, instead of something more at the time. And maybe he will have something more substantial to say later, when you've finished your part. Again, to be clear, I am not saying this is the case in whatever conversation you are talking about. Because on the other hand, an ok or mhmmm could also mean: 'yeah yeah blah blah blah yap yap yap I don't care about anything you are saying'. =P It could be that, yes, but all I'm saying is that it may not always be so... 2) I did not know that there is a list of conversation starters. Hehe. Is there? =P Time zone, you say, is not a conversation starter. Well, maybe it isn't. But I think the important thing is not so much what topic you started out with, but where you went from there. A conversation that begins with time zone, can lead to a discussion of... say for example... DST (daylight saving time) and whether it is used in your country or not. From there, you can discuss opinions regarding whether it is effective or not. Then, your talk can move to, say... energy conservation, sources of energy, nuclear power plants, oil prices, and so on. My point is: even small, seemingly unimportant topics can lead to bigger things. It is common for a conversation to move from one topic to another, sometimes without us even realizing it. I find myself laughing with people I talk with sometimes, and we'd say 'how on earth did we end up talking about this?' Hasn't that ever happened to you? =P Well, I suppose some topics require a little more effort to sustain and carry forward than others. And one needs some degree of patience as well. In any case, again, it is up to you to decide who you want to talk to or not, and whether you want to continue a particular conversation or not. And you are well within your rights to stop if you think/feel the conversation will go nowhere.

Again I said that it has nothing to do with how one speaks English. It's not the language issue here it's how you carry a conversation despite your lack of capability in expressing yourself in a language that is foreign to you. I have lots of friends from foreign countries and they are not really good in English but i found none of them stupid as they can still make a lively conversation.

Not necessarily and intellectual thing as people with less intellect can converse as well. I agree conversation is an art and when one does not contribute to it, then there's no conversation at all.

I agree but there are those who are just plain stupid i think and does not know how to carry a conversation well. How would you feel if the same person whom you talked to everyday would ask you about your time zone everyday too? Or would tell you, tell me how's the weather everyday and then talks about nothing else? I'm not looking for a highly intellectual one to keep up with the conversation, i just want a person who knows how to converse.

you can also teach a person how to converse. some persons do not have that personality by nature so you just have to be patient with some people. you might be surprised how well that person learn.

Smart people can be taught and those who want to be taught. But if one doesn't want then how else can u teach them. And a good conversation is something that comes naturally and need not be taught at all.

Definitely I am. People I talked to tell me that they can tell me exactly things that they want to without discomfort and I don't mind having healthy arguments at all. I do accept the fact that people differ in opinions and I'm not complaining on that. What I'm complaining about are people who are conversation killers. Read the discussion again so you will know what I mean.