awkward silence

[spacefem]

let's say you're at a cocktail party, conversation kinda dies. which person are you?

[Mordak]

LOOK, DUCKS!

/the chirp of crickets

[Neko]

The last party I was at was my friend's New Years mini-party. We all sat around in her living room and watched movies. There was this guy that she invited from work--I used to work there so I knew him too--and he has a nasty habit of ending conversations rather awkwardly. I feel bad for him because he's actually a really nice guy. Unfortunately, his natural talent happens to be killing the buzz in any room.

So we were half-watching this weird Japanese western--I think it's pretty recent--and guy manages to usher in the dead silence. I was watching the movie more than I was talking so I commented on something that just happened. I said, "What the fuck. I wish I could whistle and summon a horse companion." Then everyone laughed and we started talking about how freaking ridiculous and horrible the movie happened to be.

I guess that counts as a little random. I try to make the people laugh if I know their sense of humor. I'm very very careful with that because I never want to seem like that annoying person who tries too hard to be funny and fails. Otherwise, I stay silent.

[Crazedllama]

I'm the person who keeps not saying anything. And I'd probably be staring at someone in the group, just to increase the awkwardness of the entire situation. I'm a really awkward person without really trying to be, it just always sort of ends up that way.

[Bork]

I usually keep not saying anything. Whenever I try to break up the awkward silence, I usually end up saying something in a really awkward way, and then the silence is even more awkward than it was. It depends on the company, though, because if I know the people like sports, I'll bring up baseball.

[Mathmo]

Do the awkward turtle.

[LeftytheSpaceMonkey]

If I'm in a group and an awkward silence occurs, generally I won't notice it until I say something that sounds horrible when taken out of context, that is heard by basically the entire room due to nobody else making any noise...

I think that generally this only makes the awkward silence worse for everyone involved.

[monk]

There was this guy that she invited from work--I used to work there so I knew him too--and he has a nasty habit of ending conversations rather awkwardly. I feel bad for him because he's actually a really nice guy. Unfortunately, his natural talent happens to be killing the buzz in any room.

One of my best friends is just like this, he will always say the wrong thing, especially to women he kinda likes. After twenty years of awkward silences I have become awesome at breaking the tension and whipping the conversation back on track.

If I am truly at a loss, I always fall back on saying, "my, this is awfully weird, I'm usually much more entertaining than this, excuse me while I go figure out something interesting to say" then I leave. And when I think of something (almost always in a step or two) I come back

[Tweek]

Keep saying nothing... while eating any snacks available