Be sure to take advantage of this little human weakness.

Imagine hearing an absolutely serious question: “The Titanic was sunk by aliens, right?” what will be your reaction?

Most likely you will be surprised at someone else's ignorance and laugh, and at the same time, you will bombard the person with historical facts and details, convincingly proving that the version with the aliens has no foundation at all. though you will be right, Stop. Why would you want to prove something to someone?

The answer is very simple. We, people, try to equip the world around us with our ideas about how to do it right. That is why we want to correct the mistaken speaker. The desire is so strong that it changes our behaviour and even makes us do what we were not going to do.

people don't like telling you things. They love to contradict you

-Sherlock Holmes

There are numerous ways you can use this inclination to your advantage.

What is Cunningham's Law?

Cunningham's law is a joke that, legend has it, was once uttered by programmer Ward Cunningham. He spent a lot of time interacting with other people on the web and come to curious observation. 

The best way to get the right answer on the internet is, not to ask a question rather write a wrong answer knowingly. It is very obvious that you will be corrected, and in the process, they will give you complete information on the topic of your interest.

How Cunningham's Law can be used 

Suppose you are sitting at the airport next to a very reserved and serious person., let's say: ‘you are an engineer'; let me something about your work. He might say something like “ I design different systems. Then I have to ask endless questions to clarify what exactly it means, and he makes a tired face and answers my queries. Nobody likes this type of conversation. 

But if I ask a question with some mistake embedded in it, for example:   ‘you are an engineer ‘, Does this mean you are building engines?. The person suddenly jumps up. He will urgently want to point out my ignorance. He will begin to explain to me in detail who engineers are, what they do and what they don't do. All I need to do to keep the words flowing is to add shockingly every few minutes: are you sure? Doubt always triggers the reaction.

The same techniques apply to kids also:

When I use to show tiger pictures to my kids and ask them ‘hey look at this lion photo ’, they immediately join me and correct me 'no mama it is a Tiger. The fact that I didn't know something, but they knew, made the children enthusiastic.

And I think this is great because an argument is a good way to turn a boring exchange of words into an exciting conversation, full of new information. Even a little manipulation gives it a start. So, next time you are at the station or the airport try this for starting the conversation. 

Till then stay safe.