To ask what do you talk about with your friends?

Books, films, theatre, holidays, recipes, hobbies, politics, news, kids, partners, aging parents, work, friends, health, exercise, just stuff we do & consider I guess!!

All sorts!

Books, work, writing projects, academic stuff, folklore, theatre, the kids, family life, dogs, music, politics. Sometimes serious and sometimes not serious, just depends on the mood. I think everyone has a bit of a moan now and again, but never constantly - that'd bore me. Always lots of laughing tbh.

Two recent conversations I've had today were about:

• Friend one: a book we both read, something to do with cheese, and our dogs.

• Friend two: a specific event we're going to on Saturday evening, and also my cat who had a sore paw.

All sorts, lots of talk about music and cooking, work, lots of health talk lately because of ill health, politics, pretty much anything

@Errors no it’s not always a moan! Sometimes it’s to vent, otherwise might be celebrating success or praising people
For example I had coffee with a friend this morning and on my part moaned about elderly DM driving me potty - talked about DS house buying plans, DD new kitten and dieting success and DP new job
She told me about news with her DH business - good news re DM cancer treatment, her DS graduation and new GF
Then we moved onto a huge range of other topics

Talk about allsorts! I'm ok to listen to moaning, and regarded a good friend who'll listen, but since I took on my current job I've found it harder. I now work listening to moaning/unhappiness all day, so do prefer to spend my non work days talking about happy things!
It's a bit like chefs who hate coming home to cook, but everyone expects them to want to cook all day..

Let's be real, we're talking about other people LOL

I think I actually have too much of this kind of conversation. Especially at the beginning of the evening. I might even call that superficial talk. It's deeper when you get into personal stuff like feelings and relationships (of all kinds not just romantic).

Indeed!

Depends on the friends — I have a lot of friends who work in academia, the arts and creative industries, so we talk a lot about work, music, books, film etc with a side order of professional gossip, rivalries etc.

Lol at introverts being the ones to have deep meaningful convos while extroverts are shallow and stupid.

Gossip and bitching has nothing to do with introversion or extroversion.

You sound like you might be an introvert, preferring deeper more meaningful conversations as apposed to small talk, gossip and bitchy chit chat.
I'm like that and have fewer friends but we can talk about something deep for hours but I really dislike things like the school run because I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than make awkward small talk with Joseph's mum in the playground.

Really? According to who, and how did they count?

I'm slightly reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt's famous slam: Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. The funny thing, of course, being that she there was talking about people.

Families...not just each others children but parents, siblings etc

Relationships

Holidays

The past and memories

Statistically speaking 75% of the conversations you have are about people who aren't there at the time.

So I would imagine that most do involve complaining about other people.

It's a fine line and not as black and white as I have made it seem.

Hmm. I have a couple of friends who complain a lot, mostly about health and work problems - things which aren't great, but which equally have been bad for years, and which they've done little to address. It becomes a rather wearing.

With them I usually suggest we do an activity - go to an exhibition or a garden, or a class, or a talk - rather than coffee or food. Basically do something where we can talk about what we're doing, or what we thought about what we saw, as a break from the endless negativity. These are people I've known 25 years and I don't want to drop the friendships, but neither do I want 2 hours of being a captive audience while they moan at me over a meal.

Would that be an option? These friends often say subsequently that they enjoyed the event, and even if it doesn't work out, it's something shared we can reminisce about at future meet ups

With friends that understand that conversation is an art that needs to be 1) two way and 2) not relentlessly negative, anything goes: current affairs, things we've done, shared hobbies, shared friends, family, pets, work plans, future plans...

I love these conversations too. This particular friend and I could go for hours over a bottle of wine and discuss the links between A Bugs Life and the French Revolution 😄 I don’t think I could do it all the time, with every friend though. I do enjoy the saucy chats with my single friend! I love hearing about all her shenanigans. I also like the catharsis when my venty friend and I grumble about our husbands and their smelly socks. The conversations don’t always have to be positive, but I never leave them feeling negative.

Ahh, this post just made me realise how lucky I am to have such great friends!

Things I've covered with friends in the last week or so include:
work
weather
aging parents
which Roy is the best Roy (we decided Kinnear, but with Castle a close second)
theatre
cats
The Traitors, and why Charlotte was fab but Leanne was awful
Claudia Winkleman's hair
Elaine Paige's dancing
food
despair at politics and the state of the world
how not to kill a cactus
when is bin day

We talk about more or less everything. For example, conversations we've had today include:

• our collective children
• school issues
• childcare arrangements for this week and next (we provide each other with childcare)
• books we're currently reading and book recommendations
• thoughts about a journal article we read
• recommendations on further journal articles
• the news
• the weather
• being tired and the fact is STILL bleeding January
• holidays
• the dogs
• husbands (current) and stupid ex-husband
• where to buy decent leggings
• renovations
• village gossip

We've been friends for years so it's more of a family relationship these days, I feel able to say anything at all to them without judgement. We've been through periods where one or two topics have dominated (e.g., one friend's divorce) but that's life and overall we're fairly diverse in what we chat about.

Family, friends in common, books, TV drama, clothes, politics, sport, current affairs