Musing Interruptus is a podcast meant for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases and words in general. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. 
Hello, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Yesterday, which was last week when I wrote this, I participated in one of those conversations about what age reveals about your inexperience or seniority. There are cases in which it reveals neither. Age doesn’t always bring a steady voice or certainty. Age does, however, bring experience. What you do with it is entirely up to you, your intelligence and ingenuity. 
When getting to know someone we ask questions. The more interesting the question, the more interesting the answer, and also, the more special you make your interlocutor feel. Because really, getting to know someone is a gift in itself. So, I propose asking:  What have you done with your experience? It might be a more interesting question than how old are you? Another question might be: What have you learned? What has been the hardest lesson to learn? What lesson haven’t you learned? 
These questions seem to be awfully personal, yet they make for some very interesting conversation. It is also an opportunity to share the wealth of knowledge. I find that people are all too protective when it comes to socializing information that may be key to avoiding someone else injury, a mistake, or ending up with egg on your face (not literally, remember, there are many idiomatic expressions in this podcast). The questions, what have you learned? can also be embarrassing to answer if you express you haven’t made any headway on certain issues, ever. Imagine that conversation; 
— Hello, what’s your name? 
Ralph
— Ah, what an interesting name. What does it mean?
They answer something mystical and related to power. Ralph would say, wolf-counsel. 
Then you might ask, what lessons have you had a very difficult time learning? 
If they play along, they might say that they have abandonment issues and haven’t gotten over the trauma of being picked last on the playground. Two very common issues. This is a reason you might not see me raising my hand to play any type of sports. Especially sports were balls are likely to be thrown in the general direction of my head. No baseball, soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, much less dodge ball, for me. No thank you. I won’t even sit on the sidelines for fear of getting a ball to the nose. 
That should be the general name of sports, nose ball, if you catch the ball, hit it with any other part of the body, you win the game. If you get it in the nose, you get a special prize and nobody says anything if you cry. OK!? That’s what it should be called, nose ball. I hated group sports that involved balls when I was growing up. My nose used to be very cute. After all the noseballs, I have a pug nose. That is where pugs come from, playing with balls. 
Well, evidently that question just won’t fly. You can see why a conversation with a question like, what lesson haven’t you learned yet could be embarrassing. Better save that for a conversation down the line. Stick to — what’s your favorite sport and avoid asking questions about ball trauma to the nose. A good rule of thumb is to not be intrusive while still expressing interest. In that light, how old are you just might be a great question.
Perhaps an even better question is what is your favorite number? That won’t get you into much trouble, unless the answer is risqué, like 010, or just a 1, imagine if the answer is 7/11, 69, 666, or even better 4 plus 10 times 2. You might get into a little trouble but you might also have a lot of fun. That will depend on what you ask next. So be prepared with your follow up questions.
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