Grammar girl here, in today's show we'll cover whether you should say you talked to someone

or talked with someone.

In an email message Kevin B wrote, I always hear talk show hosts say it was nice talking

to you.

To me this sounds wrong as if the person the host was speaking with was just sitting there.

Shouldn't it be it was nice talking with you?

The use of the word two instead of with sounds directional, but the conversation was

bidirectional.

Well, it's true that the phrase talk with someone clearly refers to a two way or many

way conversation.

Still talk to someone doesn't rule out a two way conversation.

Any number of things could be happening while you're talking to someone that you don't

mention, including that the person might be talking back to you.

A Google search turns up many hits for strings such as, I talked with them and they said

such and such.

But it also does for strings like, I talked to them and they said such and such.

Which indicates that many writers don't interpret talk to to exclude a two way conversation.

But are all those writers and talk show hosts simply wrong?

Let's consider the position.

I might talk to be a mistake when it refers to an interactive conversation.

One could argue that since there's an equally simple expression that's more specific

than talk to, you should use it if it's truthful.

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