Small talk is like any other art. At one end of the spectrum is the purely superficial chat about the weather or sports just to pass the time. At the other end are chats that have layers of metaphor and deeper meaning; like flirting. We have lost the art of small talk, thus few people know how to construct an everyday metaphor to share information discreetly in a crowd.

Metaphors are no different than any composition. A sentence has a structure such as subject, verb, and adjective. An essay has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Metaphors should be structured similarly, on their own, but as a layer of imagery within the essay.

People who are good at flirting, the masters of coquetry, can convey a very clear message discreetly, while doing nothing more than chatting about the weather.