We’ve all
done it, lets be honest. I definitely have, I know you have, it is human
nature. You are walking by someone you kind of know, but not really so you look
away, pretend to be texting, or flat out pretend like you they are invisible to
avoid awkwardness. Being at Penn State with over 50 kids from my graduating
class, this is a daily occurrence. But
really its better then awkward conversation; we weren’t friends in high school
moving an hour and a half north did nothing to change that fact.
http://www.someecards.com/
Nothing is
worse then awkward conversation. One on one for 30 seconds is one thing but
have you ever been in a situation with a lot of people when someone is speaking
and it is just awkward? Maybe it’s at a wedding and the cousin who drank a
little too much is on stage making an inappropriate, and flat out awkward,
toast. And though everyone is smiling at him, you know they are all thinking “get
this kid off the stage this is soooo awkward”. It happens because believe it or
not, when speaking to a crowd or even one on one, there are things that are appropriate
to say and things that are NOT. When working with rhetoric it is important to
keep in mind what is appropriate to say and what is not. You do not want your
audience to be uncomfortable. The appropriateness of your rhetoric depends on
the situation, as does most things when dealing with rhetoric. Though only a
few weeks ago I talked about the powers of subtlety there is a fine line
between pushing the social norms and awkward.
Sometimes I like to take awkward situations and act like they aren't awkward. It only makes everyone else feel more uneasy and you get to laugh at it later. Instead of avoiding eye contact with those people you barely know, try giving them way too much eye contact. It'll freak them out and hey, you're never going to talk to them again anyway.
ReplyDeletehahaha As you said, I know exactly whaT you are talking about here. And I agree that we all do this sometimes. I don't personally have kids from my high school that go to college here, but that has not stopped me from doing the same still. Honestly, that is one of the reasons that I chose to go to college so far away from home.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny you bring this up because on my way to class today I saw a kid that I knew (but not very well) and so I stopped to tie my shoe instead of making that awkward eye contact with him. You are definitely right here in that there is always a line that you shouldn't cross, but it is always funny to see someone jump over that line.
ReplyDelete