Jürgen Becker is a Kabarett artist and television host from Cologne. In 2017 he wrote an essay on his city for Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, published by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. One sentence reads: Denn im Rheinland hat das Sprechen einen Wert an sich, unabhängig vom Inhalt. In the Rhineland, speaking has a value of its own, whatever the content. Another: Der Rheinländer hört nicht zu. Er redet lieber selbst. The Rhinelander doesn’t listen. He prefers to talk himself. On Brüsseler Platz, he writes, thousands gather zum fröhlichen Quatschen und Trinken, for cheerful chatting and drinking.
Places Set Aside for Chatting
In April 2023 an Edeka supermarket in Buxheim near Memmingen opened a Ratschkasse, a chat checkout, for customers who want to talk while they pay. Bavaria’s health minister, Klaus Holetschek, launched it. It was open four days a week, for two hours each morning. A market in Schweinfurt had set up a Smalltalk-Kasse almost two months earlier. In 2024 a Rewe and an Edeka in Kempten followed with Plauderkassen, chat checkouts on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m..
Towns do the same with benches. In June 2022 the mayor of Esslingen set up a Schwätzbänkle, a bench for chatting, on the Innere Brücke. In July 2026 Nuremberg announced a Blauderbänkla in its southern cemetery. A sign on the bench suggests topics, among them the weather. The press reported the checkouts in Buxheim and Kempten as measures against loneliness.
Small Talk, Better Than Its Reputation
In January 2025 the Goethe-Institut published a language column titled Small Talk – besser als sein Ruf, Small talk, better than its reputation. The author, Christiane Rösinger, begins: Die alte, bewährte Kulturtechnik des Small Talks scheint in der Krise zu sein. The old, proven cultural skill of small talk seems to be in crisis. Many people, especially young people, reject it as superficial, empty and tiring. On social media they complain: Ich hasse Small Talk! I hate small talk! What they want instead, she writes, is Deep Talk. Rösinger herself defends small talk, and she presents the dislike of it as a recent trend among young people.
The Vocabulary of Getting to the Point
mit der Tür ins Haus fallen — to fall into the house with the door. The Duden defines it as bringing up one’s concern without detours, too abruptly.
ohne Umschweife — without detours.
Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn — long speech, short meaning. It is said before a summary.
In der Kürze liegt die Würze. — The spice is in the brevity.
kurz und bündig — short and tied in a bundle: brief and to the point.
The Duden puts one word in brackets in its definition of the first idiom: [allzu] unvermittelt, [too] abruptly. The language also has a limit for getting to the point.
What the Dictionary Calls Small Talk
The Duden lists Small Talk as an educated word for light, casual conversation. A German synonym dictionary lists what else the language calls it. Among the entries:
Seichtgeplauder — shallow chatter.
Banalitätenaustausch — an exchange of banalities.
Geplätscher — splashing, like water.
Gelaber — babble.
Blabla — blah-blah.
Moin, Moin Is Already Chatter
Moin! – Moin, Moin ist schon Gesabbel. Moin! Moin, moin is already chatter. Hamburg’s official tourism site quotes the saying and explains it. Ein schlichtes Moin kann einen Hamburger durch den ganzen Tag bringen. A simple Moin can carry a person from Hamburg through the whole day. Lange Begrüßungsfloskeln und große Abschiedsworte gibt es in Hamburg nicht. There are no long greeting phrases and no grand words of farewell in Hamburg.
Enough Words
In the prelude to Goethe’s Faust, a theater director talks with his poet and his comic actor about the play they must put on. He cuts the discussion short. Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, / Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn! / Indes ihr Komplimente drechselt, / Kann etwas Nützliches geschehn. Enough words have been exchanged, let me at last see deeds! While you are turning compliments, something useful could be done. The first two lines are often quoted.
Talking Shop
fachsimpeln — to talk shop. Duden: to talk at length about purely professional matters. Its example is wir haben die ganze Nacht gefachsimpelt, we talked shop all night.
Mahlzeit! — mealtime! Duden: a greeting at midday, especially between colleagues.
ein sehr sachlicher Mensch — a very matter-of-fact person. Duden’s example of sachlich, determined only by the matter itself, not by feelings or prejudices.
Talking With Nothing Inside
die Worthülse — a word husk, a phrase with nothing inside.
heiße Luft — hot air.
schwafeln — to waffle, to talk at length and say nothing.
der Phrasendrescher — a phrase thresher, someone who threshes stock phrases.
die Sonntagsrede — a Sunday speech, fine words with no consequences.
der Wichtigtuer — someone who makes himself important.
mitreden können — to know enough to join in. Da kann ich nicht mitreden means: I don’t know enough about that to say anything.
Words Built on the Matter
Kommen Sie bitte zur Sache! — Please come to the point, literally to the matter.
Das tut nichts zur Sache. — That is beside the point. Duden’s example: von wem ich es weiß, tut nichts zur Sache, who told me is beside the point.
bei der Sache sein — to be fully concentrated on the task.
Sachdienliche Hinweise nimmt jede Polizeidienststelle entgegen. — Any police station will accept information relevant to the case. Duden gives it as its example for sachdienlich.
der Sachbearbeiter — the official who handles a case.
die Sachpolitik — policy on the substance.
Zur Sache, Schätzchen — To the point, darling. The title of May Spils’s film of 1968.