Random Things to Say to Break the Silence

One press gives one easy question to end an awkward silence, with a follow-up under it.

What is something you are oddly good at?Then ask: How did you find out?

How it works

Random things to say to break the silence: 150 small questions, on anything from pigeons to the office printer. Choose who is there from the list: strangers, friends, a class, someone new or people at work.

Read the full guide

Five kinds of silence

With strangers holds questions for a line, an elevator or a waiting room. With friends holds sillier ones, such as which of you would win a staring contest. In a class holds questions a whole room can answer with a show of hands or a few words. With someone new holds getting-to-know-you questions for two. At work holds questions for a lunch table or a quiet call.

Why a question and not a remark

A remark leaves the other person to think of a reply. A small question with no wrong answer hands them one. If nobody speaks, answer it yourself first.

Ask as if you had wondered about it all day. A straight face makes an odd question easier to answer.
If the first question gets one word back, ask the follow-up before the quiet returns.

Questions and answers

What are random things to say in silence?

Small questions out of nowhere: "Do you think pigeons recognize people?", "Escalator: stand or walk?" or "If clouds had names, what is that one called?"

How do you break an awkward silence with friends?

Ask something silly that everyone can argue about, such as "If we started a band tonight, who plays what?" Choose With friends for more of that kind.

What do you say when a meeting or a call goes quiet?

Try "Is anyone else's screen frozen, or is it just quiet?" and then "Who would like to go first?" The At work group has questions for a call, a lunch table and the minute before a meeting starts.

Are these questions safe to ask anyone?

They were written to be. None asks about money, health, looks, romance, politics or religion, and the ones for strangers ask for no name, address, school or workplace.

All 150 questions

With strangers 30

Do you think dogs know what day it is? Then ask: Which day would be their favorite?
Do you think pigeons recognize people? Then ask: Which bird would you trust with a message?
Do you trust the weather forecast today? Then ask: Umbrella or no umbrella?
Escalator: stand or walk? Then ask: Even when you are late?
If clouds had names, what is that one called? Then ask: What is it late for?
If the day had one more hour, where would you put it? Then ask: Would you spend it awake?
If this elevator played music, what should it play? Then ask: Should it take requests?
If this line had a theme song, what would it be? Then ask: The fast version or the slow one?
If this waiting room were a band, what would it be called? Then ask: What is its first song about?
If you had to learn an instrument by Friday, which one? Then ask: What would you play first?
Is a wrap a sandwich or its own thing? Then ask: What about a taco?
Is it soup weather or salad weather today? Then ask: Which soup?

Show all 150 questions (138 more)

With strangers, continued

Is this the quietest room you have been in this year? Then ask: What was the loudest?
Is today going faster or slower than yesterday? Then ask: What would speed it up?
Stairs or elevator, when it is only two floors? Then ask: What about on the way down?
What color would you paint this room? Then ask: Would you add a window or a plant?
What is a word you like the sound of? Then ask: Is there one you cannot stand?
What is the best seat on a bus? Then ask: Does the answer change on a train?
What is the best thing to find in a coat pocket? Then ask: What have you really found in one?
What is the best thing you ate this week? Then ask: Would you order it again tomorrow?
What small invention do you use every day? Then ask: What should someone invent next?
What snack belongs in every vending machine? Then ask: Which one would you take out?
What would you put on a sign in here? Then ask: A funny sign or a useful one?
Which animal would be worst at waiting in line? Then ask: Which would be best?
Which fruit gets more praise than it has earned? Then ask: Which one deserves more?
Which is better news, an early train or a short line? Then ask: When did you last get both?
Which is harder to fold, a map or a fitted sheet? Then ask: Have you ever beaten either?
Which is the better invention, the zipper or the button? Then ask: Where do shoelaces come in?
Which season would you make longer? Then ask: Which one would you shorten to pay for it?
Which smell could sell you anything? Then ask: Bread or coffee?

With friends 30

If this silence were a film, what is the title? Then ask: Is it a comedy or a mystery?
If we started a band tonight, who plays what? Then ask: What are we called?
If you had to give a speech right now, what is it about? Then ask: What is the first line?
If you were a kitchen appliance, which one? Then ask: Loud or quiet?
If you woke up great at one sport, which would you want? Then ask: Would you tell anyone how it happened?
What did you believe for far too long as a kid? Then ask: Who finally told you?
What food would you ban from every party? Then ask: What would you serve in its place?
What is the best thing we ever did on a slow day? Then ask: Could we top it?
What is the funniest thing you saw this week? Then ask: Can you act it out?
What is the last photo you took? Then ask: What is the story behind it?
What is the most useless thing you know by heart? Then ask: Where did you learn it?
What is the strangest thing you have kept for no reason? Then ask: Where is it now?
What is the worst movie you would still watch again? Then ask: Who made you watch it the first time?
What is your boldest pizza opinion? Then ask: Would you defend it in front of a crowd?
What job would you be terrible at? Then ask: Which of us would be good at it?
What should our group be famous for? Then ask: What would the statue look like?
What small thing made today better? Then ask: Can we do it again tomorrow?
What snack should we invent? Then ask: What do we call it?
What song is stuck in your head this week? Then ask: Who is to blame?
What would you name a pet rock? Then ask: What is its one trick?
What would you put in a time capsule from this year? Then ask: Who gets to open it?
Where would we go if we left right now? Then ask: Who picks the music on the way?
Which animal matches your mood right now? Then ask: Which one matches mine?
Which board game starts the most arguments? Then ask: Who starts them?
Which chore would you give up forever? Then ask: Which one would you take on in trade?
Which holiday has the best food? Then ask: Which dish would you guard?
Which month could we skip without anyone noticing? Then ask: What would we do with the spare days?
Which of us tells the longest stories? Then ask: Who gets to the point fastest?
Which of us would get lost first in a corn maze? Then ask: Who would find the way out?
Which of us would win a staring contest? Then ask: Want to find out?

In a class 30

Hands up: who has waved back at someone who was not waving at them? Then ask: Who kept walking as if nothing had happened?
If the bell played a song, what should it play? Then ask: A different one on Fridays?
If this class had a mascot, what would it be? Then ask: What is its name?
If we could take this lesson anywhere, where would we go? Then ask: What would we study there?
In one word, how is this week going? Then ask: What would move it one word up?
In three words, what is the weather doing? Then ask: Who has a better three?
On your fingers, one to five: how hard was the homework? Then ask: Which part pushed the number up?
Quick vote: is cereal better crunchy or soft? Then ask: Who eats it dry?
Show of hands: who would rather read the book than watch the film? Then ask: Which story did better as a film?
Thumbs up or thumbs down: mornings? Then ask: What makes a morning a thumbs up?
What is one thing this room needs? Then ask: Where would it go?
What is the best excuse you have ever heard? Then ask: Did it work?
What is the best thing you learned outside school this month? Then ask: Who taught you?
What question do you wish a test would ask? Then ask: What is your answer?
What should the next lunch special be? Then ask: What comes with it?
What would we name a class plant? Then ask: Who waters it first?
Which is the best seat in this room? Then ask: What makes it the best?
Which is worse, a pencil with no eraser or a pen with no cap? Then ask: Which one is in your bag right now?
Which lesson goes by the fastest? Then ask: What makes it fly?
Which school subject would make the best game show? Then ask: What is the first question?
Which word looks wrong even when it is spelled right? Then ask: Who wants to write it on the board?
Which word should we retire for a week? Then ask: What do we say in its place?
Who can draw a perfect circle on the board? Then ask: Who wants to beat it?
Who can guess the time without looking? Then ask: Who was closest?
Who can name something round in this room? Then ask: Who can find something with three corners?
Who can say hello in a language other than English? Then ask: Can you teach the room?
Who has a fact nobody else here knows? Then ask: Where did you hear it?
Who has ever forgotten why they walked into a room? Then ask: Did you remember in the end?
Who saw something strange on the way here today? Then ask: What did you do?
Would you rather have no homework or a longer lunch? Then ask: What would you do with the extra time?

With someone new 30

Are you a planner or a see-what-happens person? Then ask: Which were you this week?
Are you early, on time or a little late? Then ask: Which were you today?
City, sea or mountains? Then ask: For a week or for good?
Do you make lists? Then ask: What is on today's?
If you could try any job for a day, which one? Then ask: What would you do in the first hour?
Sweet or salty? Then ask: What is the best mix of both?
What book or show do you tell everyone about? Then ask: Where should I start?
What dish do people ask you to bring? Then ask: Is the recipe a secret?
What do you never order but always want? Then ask: What stops you?
What do you own that belongs in a museum? Then ask: What would the label say?
What do you pick first at a buffet? Then ask: What do you go back for?
What food did you change your mind about? Then ask: What changed it?
What game are you hard to beat at? Then ask: Care to prove it?
What hobby would you start if you had the gear? Then ask: What would you make or do first?
What is one thing you would never lend out? Then ask: Has anyone asked?
What is something you are oddly good at? Then ask: How did you find out?
What is the best surprise you ever pulled off? Then ask: Did they suspect anything?
What is the best thing about where you grew up? Then ask: What would you show a visitor first?
What is the best view you have seen? Then ask: Did you take a picture or just look?
What is the most fun you have had by accident? Then ask: Could you do it on purpose?
What is your idea of a perfect breakfast? Then ask: At home or out?
What job looked easy to you as a kid? Then ask: Does it still look easy?
What skill should everyone learn? Then ask: Who is the best at it that you know?
What small thing are you looking forward to? Then ask: When is it?
What sound do you find relaxing? Then ask: Is there one that does the opposite?
What was your favorite thing to do when you were ten? Then ask: Would you still do it?
What were you doing an hour ago? Then ask: Was it better or worse than this?
What would you put on a billboard? Then ask: Where would the billboard stand?
Which do you check first in the morning, the weather or the time? Then ask: Does either one change your plans?
Which place would you visit twice? Then ask: What would you do differently the second time?

At work 30

Camera on or camera off? Then ask: What is just out of shot?
Coffee, tea or neither? Then ask: How many before you can talk?
If this meeting were an email, what would the subject line be? Then ask: Would anyone open it?
If we got one extra day off, which month needs it most? Then ask: What would you do with it?
Is anyone else's screen frozen, or is it just quiet? Then ask: Who would like to go first?
What are you looking forward to after work? Then ask: Is it a tradition or a one-off?
What do you know now that would have saved you a week? Then ask: Who should hear it next?
What has been the win of the week so far? Then ask: Who else had a hand in it?
What is the best lunch within a short walk of here? Then ask: What do you order there?
What is the best snack anyone has ever brought in? Then ask: Who do we ask to bring it again?
What is the best thing about a Friday afternoon? Then ask: What about a Monday morning?
What is the best thing you have seen out of that window? Then ask: What do you hope to see?
What is the longest meeting you have sat through? Then ask: What was it about?
What on your desk has no job? Then ask: How long has it worked here?
What shortcut do you wish you had learned sooner? Then ask: Can you show me?
What should this elevator be called? Then ask: Does it have a favorite floor?
What song would get this whole floor singing? Then ask: Who starts?
What was the last thing you fixed? Then ask: Did it stay fixed?
What was your first job? Then ask: What did it teach you?
What would our team's motto be? Then ask: Does it fit on a mug?
What would you do with a spare ten minutes right now? Then ask: Shall we take them?
What would you name the printer? Then ask: What mood is it in today?
What would you put in the break room? Then ask: Who keeps it stocked?
Where do you walk at lunch? Then ask: Is there a shorter loop for busy days?
Where is everyone calling from today? Then ask: What is the weather doing there?
Where is the best chair in this building? Then ask: Who found it first?
Which floor has the best view? Then ask: Have you been up there?
Which is worse, a full inbox or a full calendar? Then ask: Which do you clear first?
Which office supply is the most satisfying to use? Then ask: Which one always goes missing?
Which tab have you had open the longest? Then ask: Will you ever close it?

How this list was compiled: Written for this page on 2026-10-08: all 150 questions and the follow-up under each are our own wording, and no list, book or site was copied. The five groups are our own sorting by who is there: With strangers, With friends, In a class, With someone new and At work. House rules applied to every line: it is a question, it can be answered in a few words and it has no wrong answer; none asks about money, health, bodies, looks, romance, politics, religion or a painful memory; and the questions for strangers ask for no name, address, school or workplace. Compared on 2026-10-08 with every other list on this site, the question pages among them: no question repeats one. Licence: Own work.