"No more trying to find time to call and chit-chat, " is how one poll respondent described the business appeal of texting over talking.

CNN: We never talk any more: The problem with text messaging

So Kazakh films tend to be short on unnecessary chit-chat, and there is no tradition of film comedy.

ECONOMIST: The Kazakh film industry

And almost none of this chit-chat belonged to protagonist Agent 47.

FORBES: A First Look at 'Hitman: Absolution'

Everyone comes in because everyone knows how important it is to share ideas and have idle chit-chat as well as important conversations about the projects everyone on the team is working on.

FORBES: 5 Sure Fire Ways to Lose Great Women

They would then chit-chat on their way to the meeting, agree on a strategy and present it to the stewards.

BBC: Coulthard on Hamilton row

No matter how correct they believe themselves to be in their choice of off-the-cuff chit-chat topics, however, the moment they talk politics or religion, they brand themselves further in ways that have the potential to eventually affect the depth of the pool from which they draw water income-wise.

FORBES: Airing Political Views May Cause Self-Employed to Lose Hard-Earned Clientele

It seems almost bizarre to imagine William Wilberforce, the high-minded anti-slavery campaigner, indulging in friendly social chit-chat with the Prince Regent (a typical conversation with the prince, as recorded by an amazed Persian diplomat, encompassed such topics as the large size of his brother's penis, revealed as he relieved himself out of a carriage window).

ECONOMIST: English history

There is significant evidence that "work sampling, " the use of tests similar to the work being performed, is a better predictor of future performance than the usual job-interview chit-chat.

WSJ: How to Ace a Google Interview