London: Battle of the badges
 

<i>New badges are being handed out to encourage people to talk to each other on the London Underground.</i>

It didn't take long for the backlash to begin.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articl...ube-chat-badge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37521090

"He's been facing some reluctance closer to home as well. 'My wife is a big introvert and the idea of having to talk to people, she would hate it,' he says.
'She gets on, she has her Kindle and that's what she does.'"

That pretty much sums up how I'd feel about it, too. Talking to fellow travellers is an appalling idea.

<i>"Jonathan Dunne, who is originally from the US..."</i>

...and probably from the Midwest or South, where strangers actually say hello to each other!

The grumps and grousers who were negative about this are lucky my DS doesn't live in London and use the tube; he doesn't need any badge to encourage him to talk to people, he just does it anyway.

"The man behind the campaign, Brian Wilson from Hackney, told BBC London he had given out 500 badges.

"I can't stand the idea of having to talk to strangers on the Tube on my way to work.

"We handed loads out this morning and everyone was loving it. Proper Londoners know the score," he said."

No one is forcing anyone to chat. What a grump, but I think it is a big city thing, not just a London thing.

In my town we say hello to strangers we meet on the street. It is normal, and polite. The sheer numbers in cities mean you can't really do that.
Mind you I don't start up a conversation with strangers in a bus or train. I wouldn't know how to.

Mind you I don't start up a conversation with strangers in a bus or train. I wouldn't know how to.>>

Hets - I've got a horrible feeling he gets it from me. I'm not as indiscriminate as DS is but if I'm sat next to someone for any period of time, and get any sort of eye-contact or a smile, I will try to start a conversation, if only about the weather. sometimes, it stops there, other times we have a proper conversation. if I am repulsed or ignored, so be it.

And I don't do it all the time, only when I feel like it.

Tube needs some Quiet Cars?

I suppose one way to start a conversation would be the same way you "say hello to strangers" in the street of the town where you live.

I think there's a big difference between simply saying "hello" to somebody as you <B>pass by them and keep going</B> vs saying hello or whatever with an indication that you want to talk with them further.

I suspect a lot of people are going to be suspicious of your motives at once.

I suspect a lot of people are going to be suspicious of your motives at once.>>

fine. They don't have to talk. I think that a lot of people have got hold of the wrong end of the stick - chatting is optional. but wearing a badge indicates that you would like to chat, which is ok too.

I have had memorable conversations on the metro in Paris.

In New York I was sitting in a subway car some years ago, looking at nobody because in those days that's what you were supposed to do, when a male body sat uncomfortably close to me. I ignored him the best I could for a while until something made me sneak a glance and I realized it was my boyfriend. I bet he wouldn't have said anythng until we got off the train. I married him anyway.

that really did make me LOL, Nikki. Brilliant.

het, I don't think it's necessarily a big city thing, maybe more of a London thing. Maybe even a North /south thing.

People up here in Manchester are more friendly and much more inclined to chat to strangers than Londoners are.

And in Cornwall it's hard work shutting them up!