Talk about receiving, giving, and taking in radio interviews: 'doing modesty' and 'making a virtue out of necessity'

Acts of giving, receiving, and taking constitute much of our social lives, and talk about these acts is ubiquitous. However, such talk has not been studied in its own right. From radio interviews with persons who have accomplished or experienced something deemed remarkable, I identified two social actions that were accomplished by talk about receiving, giving, and taking: 'doing modesty' and 'making a virtue out of necessity'. Doing modesty was present in interviews with celebrities and was deftly managed through the joint use of contrasts by the participants. Making a virtue out of necessity was present in interviews in which the interviewee's experience of adversity was a prominent focus of talk, and was accomplished through the use of irony. I argue that both actions can serve the dual purposes of putting the interviewee in a good light and holding the attention of the listening audience. This research adds to existing work on social ties by providing another route for understanding how we make use of the exchange of social resources.