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The tiny social rules you just can't get right
Stories of social cues gone wrong, the things that matter most in life when you take the two obvious answers off the table, a wrong note on the world's biggest stage and an absolute unit of a cat.
Greg Sullivan
November 20, 2025 • Est. Reading Time: 9 minutes
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“Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
In this issue...
How are you? No, really, how are you?
This is one of those stories I love because, by the end, I feel so seen. Ryan Reed steps off his usual music beat to wade into the weird and wonderful world of tiny social expectations, the stuff no one teaches you but somehow you’re just supposed to master. Like, how many times can you ask someone’s name before you’re legally required to call them “buddy” forever? Or what to say when someone hits you with “What’s new with you?” and your brain promptly wipes your entire life like an Etch A Sketch.
These replies from Reddit aren’t just funny, they’re a collective sigh of relief for anyone who’s ever overthought how long to hold eye contact or made a U-turn to avoid running into that coworker you “sort of know but not really.”
We’re all just faking it in public, but read the whole article to see how much we’re all faking it in public together.
Image of the day
Jon Sullivan (no relation) brings us this image that looks right out of an old Hollywood western, but that is, in fact, the historic ghost town of Bodie, California where temps fall below freezing more than 300 times a year.
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What's your default move when you forget someone's name?You know that face, but... |
And what did we learn?
In yesterday’s Daily GOOD, we shared a tip experts recommend for ‘winning’ an argument. But which technique do GOOD readers use when they have to argue? Almost two-thirds of you are the kind that think of the right thing to say a few hours after the fight while taking a shower. Same, fam. Same.
I go for the kill, anything to win (7.3%)
I do my best, but the right things to say only come in the shower later (63.4%)
I pull out stats, studies, and links like I’m writing a paper (17.1%)
I bring up something unrelated from two years ago (12.2%)
When you take the most obvious two answers off the table, you get some interesting answers.
What do you wish you had more of in life? No, after that… and after that…
In this story by Mark Wales, a simple Reddit prompt unravels into something deeper. People start with the expected replies, then drift into the stuff they rarely say out loud.
One person longs for energy that actually lasts past lunch. Another wants friends who are always down for a ridiculous adventure. A few confess to wanting things that feel small on paper but enormous in practice, like confidence, patience, or the ability to follow through on a 1 a.m. idea.
There is a pattern hiding in the thread, something that comes up again and again in different words. It explains a lot about why so many of us feel stretched thin, even when our calendars look fine.
A tiny mistake in front of the entire planet somehow became the most human part of Live Aid.
It’s hard to imagine a more nerve-wracking setup: a record-shattering concert, one of the biggest TV audiences in history, you, and a piano. In this story by Ryan Reed, Phil Collins walks onstage for Live Aid at Wembley, alone, and mutters, “Let’s see if I can get through this,” before sitting down and wading in.
One minute in, it looked like he might not. Exhausted from a marathon performance schedule, Collins hits a very public wrong note. Many would’ve crumbled. He just cringes. Grins. Shakes his head. Then keeps playing, and against all odds, absolutely nails the rest of “Against All Odds.”
The flub, now immortalized on YouTube, became the part fans love most. A small stumble that somehow stole the show.
On November 20, 1866, ten members of Washington’s First Congregational Society crowded into Deacon Henry Brewster’s home. They voted to start a seminary for training Black ministers, a small resolution that began a series of events that would become Howard University.
March 2, 1867, just three months later, Congress approved a charter, naming the school for Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard of the Freedmen’s Bureau. By 1869, Howard had launched the nation’s first Black law school; in 1872, Charlotte E. Ray graduated, becoming the first Black woman admitted to the bar in the United States.
From a parlor-room vote to a powerhouse often called the “capstone” of Black higher education, the ripples from that night still shape American life and leadership.
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💬 From the group text…
The vacuuming. Oh, lord, the vacuuming it would take to have this magnificent creature in your home!
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Until tomorrow, remember, ‘good to see you’ is never the wrong thing to say.