Have you ever got yourself in a conversational hole through no fault of your own? Once in, do you ‘fess’ up or do you just go along with it? I find it easier if I can understand how the person made the mistake and I’m happy to go back to correct it. What I find more difficult is the inexplicable assumptions or mistakes that are made by another person, especially if they have a forceful personality or it happens to be a public place.
My most noted conversational hole was on a train trip to Edinburgh. I was sat next to a man, with a four pack of Special Brew,and a broad accent from that city, who somehow (I have no idea how) formed the belief that I was an Edinburgh native. He was the kind of man who was too difficult to dispersuade of an idea once he got hold of it, but my knowledge of Edinburgh was sketchy at best. Luckily, the Special Brew saved me because he fell asleep after having a few and then someone moved him out of the seat as they’d reserved it. It was quite a relief not to have to pretend to be a Scot for 4 hours when I’m clearly not one.
Last night I had a dream when I found myself in another conversational hole. I was at the supermarket and the checkout man was the chatty type. He was also the sort of man that doesn’t like to admit he was wrong or misremembered something – all this is clear in my dream. We have a conversation about if I am working in the same place, before it turns out that he thinks that my place of work is a tattoo parlour. Now what I know about tattoos and working in a tattoo parlour could be written on a postage stamp. But, despite my lack of knowledge, I find myself trying to answer his questions (badly) about what it’s like to work in a tattoo parlour, what age you need to be, etc. Even in my dreams I can’t get myself out of a conversational hole.