London - Politics and religion are traditionally the topics one should steer clear of at the table. But not anymore, it seems.
New research has revealed that sex, income and social media now rank higher among our most hated subject matters at a typical, mixed sex dinner party.
In fact, a poll of 1 000 Americans by Zogby for lifestyle website Living Mactavish found that discussing your Facebook profile or Twitter following is a greater conversational taboo than death or serious illness.
One’s choice of birth control also ranked highly in the list of dinner party no-nos, as did the state of a diner’s relationship.
Susan Mactavish Best, founder of Living Mactavish, pointed out that the results of the survey demonstrate an increased openness in our acceptance of intimate subjects.
“One way of looking at the results is that surprisingly few topics are completely off-limits,” she said, explaining that even two out of five people are happy to chat about the most taboo subject – the sex lives of those present.
The poll also found that Americans are far more inhibited than the British.
When a similar poll was conducted in the UK, the percentage of Brits reluctant to discuss very similar subjects was far smaller – roughly half in many cases – than the equivalent percentage of Americans.
For example, only 32 percent of Brits would avoid discussing their sex life. And just a quarter of Brits would not discuss their income. – Daily Mail