The Weather and the Words in Passing : Page 225

Talking about the weather has been the subject of many jokes — good and bad. Despite this, however, the weather is a perfectly proper topic of exchange during the first moments after two or three or a whole company of people meet. In such a situation something has to be said. And if they haven't met previously that day or if they do not meet every day, you cannot say, "Good morning, Mr. Black. Isn't the new tax bill a terror?" In such casual encounters, then, it is quite in line to exchange a few comments about the weather. Only two things are wrong in talking about this subject. One is to keep talking about it. Virginia Woolf condemning certain literary types says, "The literary convention of the time is so artificial — you have to talk about the weather and nothing but the weather throughout the entire visit." One must somehow use the weather as a bridge to something better. You may say, "From cloudy it turned rather nice." He says, "Yes, it's almost warm." You say, "Makes one feel like going for a drive. How is your new car behaving?" And so the conversation has been steered to something better. The second fault in talking about the weather is to wax profound or philosophical about it. If you say, "It is surely hot today," and I say, "Oh, it isn't the heat, but the humidity," and if while saying it I do not smile mockingly, I should not be forgiven unless when someone comments on the first snow fall, I reply, "Oh, it's not really snow, it's just frozen vapor"!