The applying of seriousness to talk has been compared with something in the passage. What is it?

Directions: Read the given passage and answer the following question.

Really good talk is one of the greatest pleasures and yet how rarely one comes across it. There are a good many people among my acquaintances who, on occasions, are capable of talking well. But what they seem to lack is initiative and deliberate purpose. If people would only look upon conversation in a more serious light, much would be gained. I do not of course mean, heaven forbid, that people should try to converse seriously; that results in the worst kind of dreariness in feeling, as Stevenson said that one has the brain of a sheep and the eyes of a boiled codfish. What I mean is that the more seriously one takes an argument, the more amusing it becomes. What I wish is that people would apply the same sort of seriousness to talk that they apply to golf and bridge, just as they desire to improve their game, brood over their mistakes, try to do better. Why is it that so many people would think it effeminate to try to improve their talk, yet think it manly and rational to try to shoot better? Of course, it must be done with a natural zest and enjoyment or it is useless. It is all very well to know before hand the kind of line you would wish to take; but spontaneity is a necessary ingredient to talk and to make up one's mind to get certain stories in, is to deprive talk of its fortuitous charm.