Do you ever go up to strangers on the street and talk to them?

If they speak, maybe just a hi & a smile then yeah absolutely. It is strange as you say that people will amass on social websites building up “friends” & chat away merrily on their keyboards but someone real actually speaks in passing & some are like woah back off. Weird really. Oh & btw, hello back atcha ;¬}

I tend to talk with middle aged guys like me. I would never approach you (a female) on the street as it might be misconstrued as having a motive.
I do say “hi” to anyone if I see them while biking or on walking paths. But in general a real conversation will only be with a another guy.

I talk to strangers all the time. Usually the parents of other kids at the park or something, or other people in line at the grocery store.

My normal social anxiety doesn’t really kick in until I get the impression that I’m going to see these people again.

Oh well, I am a really shy person, so now I am getting much more social. I regret being shy and alone and quite. Now I just smile to people and be as happy as possible through the day as I can. I smile at strangers, say HI I also try to talk to boys and stuff, but sometimes I just freeze.

I wouldn’t physically approach a stranger to talk to them without good reason but I will happily chat with strangers if we’re already sitting or stading close to each other. Waiting in line, or sitting on the bus, or at the bar in the pub, etc.

Depends on how drunk I am.

I would do a similar thing to @downtide and have a casual conversation with someone if I was in a queue, a restaurant etc.
We have recently been on holiday and met a local couple in a restaurant. We had a lovely time chatting with them, and added to the experinece of the meal.

I do what @downtide does. I’m happy to chat away to strangers in such situations. I love when a stranger smiles at me in the street. It reminds me that we’re all connected. It doesn’t mean I feel the need to talk to that person though.
When I’m out for drinks with friends, chatting to strangers goes hand in hand with that.

All the time also. If you get to know them, they are no longer strangers. I’m from a very friendly state. Also, live in a small comminity that is a friendly place. That makes it easy to be friendly!

I am a friendly and not afraid to talk to people….so there!

Normally, what I’ll do is say, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” and smile. Usually, that’ll get a conversation going. My girlfriend is from Michigan (I’m from Canada) and she says that Canadians are quite friendly and aren’t afraid to chat it up with people on the street, in bars, stores, whatever.

You go to parts of Michigan and when you try to initiate conversation with a stranger (say in a coffee shop), at first, they look at you as though you have three heads. Or, it’s “what does this person want from me?”. My girlfriend was the first to point that out to me, and it’s true.

just before I take their money yeah!!

Here, in NYC, plenty of strangers strike up conversations with me and for the most part I’m not into it. I need alone time during my commute and I find that doesn’t make me an anti-social person.

Once when I was on holiday, about 20 years ago, I was chatting with a family staying at the same guesthouse. They were parents with their teenage son, who they said proudly, was visiting to take part in a junior golf contest. The parents were gushing about how wonderful he was at golf, in the way parents do. A few years later this young boy broke into the professional golf circuit – his name was Lee Westwood.

All the time!

I love people!

I have the best encounters with perfect ‘strangers’...maybe because I don’t consider anyone a ‘stranger’ just a freind I havn’t met yet!

I talk to strangers here all the time, particularly if they have a puppy on a leash. It is a very small town.

I would love to have a chat with a stranger, to meet someone new.
But I don’t think I could ever bring myself to start a conversation with a stranger.
So I wait for them to come to me. Which is, admittedly, incredibly rare.

I do not walk up to strangers on the street and start chatting. In a queue, or if there’s a number of people involved in the same situation or something, then, sure, I’ll throw out an icebreaker, depending on my reading of the general mood.

I am rarely around people. If I’m in the mood, I’ll start one with the ladies at the grocery store (checkout people?) at times, not often.
I almost never see signs of Life in the neighborhood but IF someone comes up to me I don’t mind chatting for a short while. I am strangely aware that this person has an entire lifetime of experiences I don’t know a thing about nor do they about my life and this gives me a feeling of distance from them. I can’t explain it and I think it’s pathetic

I don’t go out of my way to do so, but I have been known to start a conversation with a nearby stranger when we are waitng somewhere like a bus stop or a laundromat.

I asked a homeless man the meaning of life once. he didn’t answer

I was recently on a train that ran over someone. There were 2 people sat across the table from me and my friend and we talked about it. Usually I wouldn’t but the incident presented common ground.

If you go to London it’d be very lonely if you didn’t know anyone there. No one speaks to each other (especially on the tube – they don’t even look each other in the eye) as everyone is always in a rush to get somewhere.

I find in villages people smile and say ‘good morning’, but it’s really when people have something in common that they end up talking (like previous examples, being in a queue next to each other, sitting at the same bar, both out with their dogs, etc).

if their walking their dog,yes

No, i’ve never just walked up to strangers and started to talk to them, it’s just not something i do – i’m quiet and shy. I’ll have no problem speaking with them if they speak to me first, provided i care to speak to them in return.

@zophu – I did that once too, and I got a lot of babble about Nixon and the Warren Commission. Let me tell you, that got me over my “people off the grid are more noble, knowing and morally superior than the rest of us” right quick.

@aprilsimnel It’s always disappointing when you’re trying to learn about a homeless person and they start talking about politics. But that applies to people with homes too, so I don’t think you should be so quick to judge hahaha.

No, I would not walk up to a stranger and start talking. However, when people are all sitting around at the park, or walking around in a store, I might start up a conversation.

I’m not into the blind approach for anyone (man or woman). There has to be a reason to talk to someone (at least for me). In fact I do not even like being randomly approached myself. However if I am sitting/standing next to someone (like at a ballgame) I have no problem striking up a conversation. It also depends on the vibe I get from a person as well. Sometimes you can sense when you can talk to someone or not and whether the response from that person will be good or bad.

For some reason I feel like an idiot when I’m talking to some person.

No, I wouldn’t go say hi, because I’m to shy to do that and I’d feel put on the spot. I would talk to them if they came over and introduced themselves, but I wouldn’t have much to say, since you know, I don’t know them. Lol, then it comes down to, “So…. how bout this weather, huh?” and that’s a deal breaker for most.

I think I’m socially retarded, unless I’m consuming alcohol. Then I’m only socially retarded with the ladies and that slowly fades as the night strolls on and I consume more. Even then I’m still unable to approach someone I find attractive. I have no problem talking to guys, drunk or sober.

It would have to be more then a glance. A waive or a nose pick.

Otherwise, I am in my own zone.

@Aster I understand that you should be wary of people you don’t know, and like you, I will chat with someone in a supermarket at the checkout. It’s not pathetic, just being cautious.

All the time.