As somebody slightly on the autistic spectrum to whom this doesn't always comes naturally, I feel learning just the right amount of fakery is the stuff that keeps relationships alive – in more ways than one.

People aren't always in the same emotional space or have different ways of experiencing or expressing those emotions, and I've learned that not every moment is the best for hammering home those differences... I suspect that if you'd tell me you have cancer, you're not exactly looking for survival rate statistics or information on operating procedures.