‘Dings’ as a hidden champion

When linguists analyse our written language to identify the most frequently used words, the usual suspects always top the list: der, die, das, und, in. That’s the theory. In practice, though – where the sun is shining and life unfolds by the lake, on a crowded footpath or in a beautifully situated mountain restaurant – things naturally look completely different. If we were to record our spoken German, the ‘hit list’ (not empirically validated, of course, but based on listening statistics) of our language would look something like this:

• 3rd place: “Also”
  The Swiss Army knife of rhetoric. We use it to start conversations, to bridge pauses, or to elegantly change the subject when the heat has made our brains go to a standstill. “So… shall we go for a swim now?”
• 2nd place: “Ja”
  Not to be confused with the simple opposite of “Nein”. The everyday “Ja” is a chameleon. For instance, a “Did you say that, ja?” primarily signals “I’m listening to you”. Or a “That was obvious, wasn’t it?” is mainly intended to emphasise a point and plays on hidden hierarchies in communication. Sometimes it simply states what’s supposedly self-evident, such as “It feels really hot right now – it is 30 degrees, after all”.
• 1st place: ‘thing’
  The queen of everyday vocabulary. Whilst we struggle to find terms like ‘sun cream applicator’ or ‘hammock attachment hook’ when writing, in spoken language the problem is solved in milliseconds. “Pass me that thing.” And the miracle is: everyone knows immediately what’s meant … most of the time. “Thing” is the linguistic catch-all for anything we find too much of a bother to think about right now.

We German-speaking people are (yes) regarded worldwide as part of the nation of poets and thinkers, who have a separate, thirty-letter word ready for every detail. But in everyday life, between chips at the outdoor pool and balmy summer evenings, we are one thing above all: wonderfully pragmatic. (So) we don’t need complicated grammar to understand one another. A friendly “Yeah, well… you know, that thing, right?” is quite enough to explain the world.

With that in mind: enjoy the summer. And don’t forget the… what’s that thing called again… oh yes, your sunglasses…!