Quiet vs. Shy

Hmm. I used to be quiet and shy when I was younger. Not much of either now, really. But I can be shy now and then, depending on the context. But quiet, not so much. How it works - say you're in a social situation, and there's an animated conversation going on that you'd like to get in on, but you don't feel up to breaking into it. Then someone comes over and manages to bring you into the conversation, and you then proceed to talk everyone's ear off. See? Shy, but not quiet.

I'd say I'm fine with either personality type, but I'd prefer shy over quiet. There's the idea that once they warm up to you, they're happy to contribute to a conversation and keep their end up. But with some quiet people, it feels like you're talking volumes at them but not really getting much in return. I guess that depends, though. With some quiet people, they can match a million words of yours with a couple sentences of fathomless depth. And there can also be those rare and utterly cool people that you can feel comfortable with not trying to attack the silence with cleverness or small-talk, but just going with the flow, floating a traded sentence or two every once in a while out into the silence whenever the mood's right.

Jam it back in, in the dark.