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>I also hate how our smalltalk starts with "What do you do for a living?"

In my experience this usually takes the form of "what do you do?" The question irks me because I know that what's implied is the "for work" part, and that in turn implies that somehow, the way I make money is the signature aspect of my being. The assumption is built in to our [American] society of course. My response to this query is always either "do for what?" or a list of things that I do that I consider important (walk, ride my bike, work out, travel, listen to jazz, read ...).