Ranked
The Best Conversation Openers for Meeting People in Person (Ranked by What They Actually Get You)
1. The receptivity read (before you say anything at all) · 2. The graceful exit (reading disinterest and leaving well) · 3. The situational observation · +10
Ranked by what an opener actually accomplishes: starting a real conversation, versus getting a laugh, versus getting shut down. Research on pick-up lines has been consistent since the 1980s - direct and situational openers outperform flippant ones, which read as funny but untrustworthy. So the scripted lines rank low, the receptivity read and the graceful exit rank at the top, and the settings where this goes wrong are named.
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