What Kind Of Music Do You Listen To?

Anyone who has been on a date or gone out with new people is bound to have heard that more than once, but every time I hear it, it stirs up a couple recurring thoughts.

Now, I may be unique, but I can't help but wonder why an inquiry that is brought into so many conversations manifests such an ignorance for proper grammar. I don't claim any mastery of English grammar, but I attempt to remain as conformist as possible. If I use a phrase more than a few times, I start to examine it on a deeper level, but this doesn't even necessitate that. It ends with a preposition, and that has to be one of the simplest grammatical errors to correct. It leaves us with limitless options. Though the simplest way to fix it would be to ask "to what kind of music do you listen?", that doesn't feel proper or logical. I would much rather alter the sentence completely and ask "what is your favorite music genre?" because that feels much more appropriate. You could change it any number of ways, but that doesn't fix my main grievance with the use of that phrase. 

When someone throws that line out there, they are admitting that the conversation has come to a halt and that they have no idea how to fill the awkward pause. I can't think of an instance where it spawned a spectacular conversation, but people still use it. Why? It's just that they feel a need to say something, a need to keep the conversation fluid, but they feel that has to involve changing the topic. Like I said, anyone who has been on a date has, most likely, had to deal with it, but it just doesn't work. Luckily, if you get to know the person to any greater extent, that need subsides. It would no longer come up for at least the following three reasons. First, you would most likely know what type of music they prefer. Second, there wouldn't likely be an awkward pause to fill. Third, it is possible that any actual pause in conversation wouldn't warrant any drastic effort to fill (though similar, the last two reasons are, in fact, different) and that any silence might be acceptable.

I'm not saying anyone should feel guilty for feeling the need to ask such a question. We want people to like us. As such, we sometimes feel awkward, and we sometimes say or ask things that feel idiotic. That's life. I just wanted to pause and think about a simple phrase. It's a simple phrase, but it's one that causes me to cringe, just a little, every time it rumbles my ear drum. It's a phrase that causes me regret and irritation. I wonder how I could have let the conversation to drop to that level.

So, what kind of music do you listen to?