I sort of thought that maybe people had to talk that way, sort of saying the same things over and over because that way they can get along together without thinking." She stopped and thought. Why I was so worried,” she said, “was because if people didn't say those damn things over and over, then they wouldn't talk to each other at all.
Shirley Jackson, Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories
banalities, banality, conversation, mrs-anderson, pleasantries, small-talk, talk-about-the-weather