I work as a medical professional, and yesterday I was drawing bl00d from a teenage male patient. He was visibly nervous to the sight of the needle, so I told him to keep talking to me to distract himself. The first thing he asked me was, "Which one of your fingers is your favorite?"

I was a little taken aback by the question, because frankly, no one has ever asked me that in my life before. We chatted for some time till I was done. But it reminded me of my childhood, when questions like "What is your third favorite planet in the solar system?" was common between us children.

Why do we never do that as adults with strangers, or even between friends? Why do the conversation topics have to be serious all the time?