He was also a highly quotable man, full of incredible one-liners<\/a>. When my family would visit and he was ready to wrap things up, he\u2019d cheekily say, \u201cWell, we certainly have seen you,\u201d and, \u201cCome again when you can\u2019t stay so long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Greatest Generation<\/a> grandad also loved to entertain. Though not a man of many words, he was a legendary host. His advice to us grandkids about being a great conversationalist was always the same:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlways ask the last question.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That was it. That was his key to never running out of things to say in a conversation. It sounds extremely obvious, but you\u2019d be surprised how counter it runs to a lot of the advice<\/a> young people are getting now. In certain sectors, the name of the game is all about how to be more charming and more charismatic. \u201cSelf-help\u201d forgets that the real key to being interesting is being interested<\/em> in what the other party<\/a> has to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What made my grandad\u2019s execution of this simple concept great was his confidence in the fact that they didn\u2019t have to be great questions. He would just keep asking them, like a steamroller. He knew that, if he kept it up, he\u2019d eventually hit on something that would launch a deeper and more interesting discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversations began logistically: How was the drive? What time did you leave? Was there any traffic? Where\u2019d you stop to eat? What did you order?<\/em> Before you knew it, you were off and running. That was the beauty of the technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, asking questions is not new advice. It\u2019s a strategy that\u2019s been around forever, and it\u2019s still preached heavily today by psychologists and master small-talkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But anybody who\u2019s been in conversation with another human being lately knows that a lot of people are really bad at this and only want to hear themselves talk. The Guardian<\/a> <\/em>calls them \u201cnon-askers.\u201d And they\u2019re everywhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, Harvard Business Review<\/em><\/a> shared that about 70-80% of what children say is made up of questions, but that number plummets dramatically in adults. It\u2019s like we lose our inherent curiosity somewhere along the way, and we pay for it in the way we relate to, or don\u2019t, with others. You don\u2019t have to do much research to see how big of a problem this is becoming, from people lamenting horrid first dates where they can\u2019t get a word in edgewise, to an excruciating lack of self-awareness from people in the working world who just\u2026won\u2019t. stop. talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"manners,](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/origin_029c5d.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"manners,](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/origin_78213e.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"greatest](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/origin_5d19aa.gif\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"