Streitkultur is the culture of disputing, the way people argue. Duden gives eine gesunde Streitkultur, a healthy culture of dispute, as an example of its use. In October 2019 Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke in Berlin at an event titled “Demokratie unter Druck – für eine neue politische Streitkultur.” It was time, he said, for new round tables in the country, “nicht zur Vermeidung von Streit, sondern zum Gelingen des Streits”, not to avoid dispute but to make dispute succeed. He asked for a way of arguing that lets us “dem Gegenüber auch am Tag nach dem Streit noch aufrecht in die Augen schauen”, still look the other person straight in the eye the day after the dispute.
Words for a Useful Quarrel
sich zusammenraufen — to tussle one’s way together. Duden: to reach an understanding step by step after more or less fierce arguments.
ein reinigendes Gewitter — a cleansing thunderstorm. Duden’s example: der Streit wirkte wie ein reinigendes Gewitter, the quarrel worked like a cleansing thunderstorm.
reinen Tisch machen — to make a clean table, to create clear conditions.
Nichts für ungut! — No offense meant. Duden: it is not meant badly. It is said after a blunt remark, and it does not take the remark back.
The Dance Judge
Joachim Llambi has been a judge on the RTL dance show Let’s Dance since 2006. He also judges professional and amateur dancesport. In 2014 he published a book subtitled Mut zur ehrlichen Kritik, courage for honest criticism. In 2025 he said: “Ich will bei ‹Let’s Dance› stets ein ehrliches, klares Urteil geben.” I always want to give an honest, clear verdict on Let’s Dance. It annoys him, he added, when criticism becomes insulting for no reason. He looks at timing, footwork, body lines and the work with the partner. “Wir bewerten das, was wir sehen”, he said. We judge what we see.
He Does Not Play Dice
On 4 December 1926 Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born about the new quantum mechanics. He began with respect: Die Quantenmechanik ist sehr achtunggebietend. (Quantum mechanics commands great respect.) Aber eine innere Stimme sagt mir, daß das noch nicht der wahre Jakob ist. (But an inner voice tells me that this is not yet the real thing.) The theory delivered a lot, he wrote, but it hardly brought us closer to the secret of the Old One. Jedenfalls bin ich überzeugt, daß der nicht würfelt. (In any case I am convinced that He does not play dice.) Until his death in 1955 Einstein tried in vain to find a deterministic theory behind it. Experiments later disproved his conclusions. But the observations behind his objections proved correct and fundamental. German Wikipedia says he was the first to put his finger in an open wound.
In Praise of Doubt
Around 1939 Bertolt Brecht wrote a poem called Lob des Zweifels, In Praise of Doubt. It begins: Gelobt sei der Zweifel! Ich rate euch, begrüßt mir / Heiter und mit Achtung den / Der euer Wort wie einen schlechten Pfennig prüft! (Praised be doubt! I advise you, greet cheerfully and with respect the one who tests your word like a bad coin.) He goes on: Ich wollte, ihr wäret weise und gäbt / Euer Wort nicht allzu zuversichtlich. (I wish you were wise and did not give your word too confidently.)
Theses for Debate
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses of 1517 carry the Latin title Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum, a disputation to clarify the power of indulgences. They were meant as a basis for discussion among expert theologians. Their preamble begins: Aus Liebe zur Wahrheit und im Verlangen, sie zu erhellen, sollen die folgenden Thesen in Wittenberg disputiert werden … (Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following theses shall be debated in Wittenberg …) Luther asked those who could not come to debate in person to take part in writing instead. The debate he hoped for never took place. Instead, a heresy trial began in 1518, and in the end Luther was excommunicated.
The Vocabulary of Expertise
Schuster, bleib bei deinem Leisten!
Shoemaker, stay with your last. The dictionary DWDS explains: do only what you understand something about.
Das Ei will klüger sein als die Henne.
The egg wants to be cleverer than the hen. It is said of a young person who wants to teach older and more experienced people.
Sind Sie vom Fach?
Are you from the field? The question asks whether someone is a trained specialist.
Er versteht sein Handwerk.
He understands his craft. It is praise for anyone who has mastered the work, not only for craftsmen.
der Quereinsteiger
The lateral entrant. Someone who enters a profession without its usual training.
Hard but Fair
Die Verhandlungen waren hart, aber fair. The negotiations were hard but fair. German negotiators often say this after a difficult round, sometimes on both sides of the table. The two words do not contradict each other. Hart describes the pressure. Fair describes whether the result can be accepted. After a wage agreement in the mineral water industry of North Rhine-Westphalia in May 2022, the food workers’ union explained its result to members in one sentence: Der gefundene Kompromiss ist fair, weil er die Positionen beider Seiten berücksichtigt. The compromise is fair because it takes the positions of both sides into account.
Business Is Business
Geschäft ist Geschäft. — Business is business. Duden explains it: when money is involved, one cannot take feelings into account.
Beim Geld hört die Freundschaft auf. — Where money begins, friendship ends.
Bei Geldfragen hört die Gemütlichkeit auf. — Where money is concerned, the friendly mood ends. The banker David Hansemann said it in the Prussian United Diet in 1847, in a debate on a state loan for a railroad. It quickly became a common saying.
Dienst ist Dienst und Schnaps ist Schnaps. — Duty is duty and schnapps is schnapps.
Fridays at Helmut Schmidt’s
In 1985 the former chancellor Helmut Schmidt founded a Freitagsgesellschaft, a Friday Society, in Hamburg. Its 25 members met during the winter semesters, on the second Friday of each month, at Schmidt’s house in Hamburg-Langenhorn. Each evening had a lecture followed by a discussion. Party membership did not matter. Until her death, his wife Loki Schmidt took care of the guests’ dinner herself. Over 175 lectures were held. The society was dissolved at the end of the winter semester 2014–15. Schmidt gave up the role of host for reasons of age, and no successor could be found.