5

I’m not active on many Stack Exchange sites, but on the ones I am, the general chat room usually has a creative name:

Both names are something one would immediately associate with the respective subject. And what do we have? ‘German Language Chat’. How boring!

So let’s think of new names for our chat room. I have added one below, feel free to add more!

Process:

The majority seems in favour of a new name, but right now, there are two equally scoring contenders for that position. To find a decision, this question will be featured for another three days (29.08.2015, 18:30 CEST) and all answers will be edited to unlock existing votes. The winner will then be determined by the following criteria:

  1. highest score,
  2. least number of downvotes,
  3. latest posting date of the answer.

All answers are eligible, not only those that have the lead right now – you may even propose new suggestions.

Results:

The ballot has ended. The winner is deutschsprachiger Raum with a score of 4 (+7 | −3), by tie-breaker posting date (Jul 1st, 2015 at 14:43).

The other answers:

  • Auerbach's Keller, score 4 (+7 | −3), posted Jun 16th, 2015 at 22:07
  • Auf gut Deutsch, score 3 (+7 | −4)
  • Stammtisch, score 3 (+7 | −4)
  • Kaffeehaus, score 2 (+5 | −3)
  • Auslautverhärtung, score −3 (+4 | −7)
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  • this is not something that needs implementing by the SE devs, so I removed the feature-request tag
    – Vogel612
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 15:03
  • -1 I don't think "German Language Chat" is boring. It makes easily clear to everyone and particularly to new users that it is the general chat room of German Language SE.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 20:04
  • 1
    The main purpose of a sites name is to reflect its content. When I read »Maid Café«, I never ever would associate it with animes and manga. But when I read »German Language Chat«, I have a good idea of what I might find when I enter the site. I would expect to enter a German language chat. So this is the best name.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 9:13
  • 5
    If you don’t associate Maid Café with anime (or manga — or at least Japan), you have no idea about anime and manga. Sorry, but it’s like that.
    – Jan
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 13:22
  • 5
    Most chat rooms use custom names, Tavern on the Meta, The h bar, the Frying Pan, The Bridge, find out yourself. For the sake of association, there is a short description, which is also displayed.
    – Martin - マーチン
    Commented Jul 1, 2015 at 12:53
  • 1
    @Jan this is actually not a plus-point for the name, since it burdens newcomers to the genre, or generally interested folks, to properly pinpoint the topic of that channel. These users will be lost to your (chat) community.
    – hiergiltdiestfu
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 13:52
  • 1
    @hiergiltdiestfu Chat isn't equipped to handle a community of a full site anyways. As such it's not much of a problem when uninterested / non-perseverant users do not find chat. That said you can refer users to chat in a comment when it's necessary
    – Vogel612
    Commented Aug 29, 2015 at 17:31

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
3

deutschsprachiger Raum

Nothing (too) country-related, nothing booze-related and it comes with a double meaning.

5

I think the current name is the best choice, but for the case the community wants to change it I propose

Auerbachs Keller

  • Like the chat rooms of our Italian, French and Spanish partner sites it is the name of a restaurant — a place where people meet and have a good time talking to each other and enjoying food and drinks. Also the two sites mentioned in the question seem to play with the idea of a restaurant or bar.
  • It is mentioned in Goethe’s Faust – der Tragödie erster Teil, one of the most famous works of German literature, and as such might be known to an international audience.
18
  • After a few thoughts I like this one. I was going to counter-propose Ratschkeller but I like that this one can date back to Faust.
    – Jan
    Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 16:00
  • 2
    Just nitpicking … Goethe didn’t say it, he let one person in his play say it; he may or may not have thought it true.
    – chirlu
    Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 9:51
  • @chirlu You are right, and that's not nitpicking at all. In my early childhood in Leipzig the teachers didn't miss any opportunity to bring this quote to our attention, but they never said where it was from and that the praise in it might very well be ironic. Thanks for the hint, I removed it from the proposal, as it doesn't give a good argument any longer.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 10:03
  • One further, even more minor ntipick: Yes to the Maid Café being a place to eat and drink, but the Periodic Table is really just a pun on tabl, so it’s only one site of those mentioned in the question ;)
    – Jan
    Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 11:54
  • @Jan I understand it as a play with an apparently popular pattern of naming restaurants. Search for "table restaurant", and you'll quickly find [Corner | Harvest | Woodward | Red | Central | etc.] Table.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 18, 2015 at 12:05
  • 1
    If you really want to change the name (which I decline), you should better use a name, that is connected to German Language, not to Germany's Culture. I, a German native Speaker, but not being German (I am from Austria) can't identify myself with an old inn in a foreign country. I'm not sure, if all US-citicens would identify themselfs with an English Language Chat that is named »Camelot« (King Arthur's castle somewhere in UK).
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 9:29
  • @HubertSchölnast That's a valid point, though I would say that literature is a part of culture that is very close to language (and who would know Auerbachs Keller without Faust?). My proposal was partly inspired by the chat room names of our French, Italian and Spanish sister sites (mentioned in a comment on Jan's answer), which (to me) also have nothing to do with the respective languages beside that they are in that language.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 9:47
  • @Matthias: Grillparzer, Nestroy and Raimund (among many others) are authors who are part of Austria's culture, and their works are part of German Language too, but I guess non of them is seen as part of Germany's Culture. In Austria's schools you of course learn about Goethe, Kleist, Schiller and many other of Germany's authors, and of course is German Language a part of Austria's culture, but Goethe and his Faust are not part of Austria's culture.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 10:30
  • 2
    @HubertSchölnast To make this clear: German literature in my answer means literature in German language. To me, the idea of associating an author with a nation that did not even exist at the time he was living sounds very strange.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 10:51
  • @Matthias: The problem is the word »deutsch/german« that has two meanings: 1. belonging to the German Language; 2. belonging to the county Germany. And people in Germany very often mix them up. We Austrians really HATE it, when there are TV-shows like »Die 30 größten Schlagerstars Deutschlands«, and then you find among them Peter Alexander and Udo Jürgens, who both are Austrian. Or »Die besten deutschen Hollywood-Schauspieler«, and in the list are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Christoph Waltz. »Deutsche 80er-Pop-Stars«: Falco. »Die größten deutschen Physiker«: Doppler, Mach, Pauli, Schrödinger.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 8:57
  • 1
    @Matthias: All of then are Austrians. For many people form Germany, those People are part of German Culture because their native language is German. But they are not German. You never will find the Beatles or the Rolling Stones in a list of the best American musicians, because the are not American. Hercule Poirot will never be listed as one of the most famous French novel-characters because he is Belgian. Why do so many Germans still believe, Austria and Germany belong together? They don't.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 8:59
  • 1
    @Matthias: Austria does no longer belong to Germany (since 1945). There is Austrian Culture and German Culture. Do not mix it up! Goethe and Schiller are really great poets, but they are part of the Culture of a country, that for about 13 million German Native Speakers (in Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Italy) is a foreign country!
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 9:01
  • 1
    Auerbachs Keller is in Saxony! What do I care about Saxony!
    – Carsten S
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 21:27
  • 2
    Who cares what @CarstenS cares about?
    – Matthias
    Commented Aug 27, 2015 at 10:51
  • 1
    At least it is not in Bavaria.
    – chirlu
    Commented Aug 29, 2015 at 13:35
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Auf gut Deutsch

In a figurative sense, this colloquial expression may mean “blunt” or “without glossing over”, which might be an appropriate description of a chat.

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I was thinking about something that insiders and maybe even outsiders would immediately connotate with German. I arrived at the

Stammtisch

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  • 1
    JA! DAS! ... What about the English speaking majority of SE though? What about other language sites?
    – Vogel612
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 15:00
  • 2
    The chat for French Language is named Chez Cosette; Italian has Bar Sport (don’t ask me); Spanish has La tertulia. So, we would not be the first.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 15:05
  • 2
    Oh, and Linguistics has lɪŋˈgwɪstɪks.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 15:16
  • 2
    -1 Mit "Stammtisch" assoziiere ich "Stammtischniveau", und auf das will ich nirgendwo in SE treffen.
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 21:56
  • 1
    I agree with Matthias. A Stammtisch is a table in an inn, where old men (women are rare) regularly meet, drink lots of alcohol and debate about politics, in most cases from a point of view, that is right from the middle. This is nothing I want a German Language Chat be associated with.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 9:34
  • 4
    @HubertSchölnast: Even before the digital age but in particular in Internet culture, Stammtisch is used for all sorts of online or physical meetings where people with a common interest meet to talk about it, e.g., meetings of Wikipedia afficionados are also called Stammtisch and while I never attended such a meeting, I am pretty sure that your description does not apply.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 13:58
  • @Wrzlprmft: I don't like groups called Stammtisch in any context.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 14:07
  • 2
    The problem with Stammtisch is, that it is quite a regular thing, which -judging from the transcripts - is not necessarily true for the GLC.
    – Martin - マーチン
    Commented Jul 1, 2015 at 13:16
  • @Wrzlprmft The stereotypical Italian loves soccer/football and talks about nothing else. Frankly, the fact that the Italian chat is called Bar Sport and not Bar Calcio is incredibly surprising.
    – Arc676
    Commented Aug 28, 2015 at 14:33
0

Kaffeehaus

Der Stammtisch gilt im Deutschen als Ort niveaulosen Palavers, populistischen Gegröles kurz vor der Wirtshausschlägerei oder danach. Besser wäre da das Café, nur ist dies als französischer Begriff nicht angemessen. Dagegen bürgt das mehr österreicherische Kaffeehaus für einen gediegenen Umgang, angenehme Intellektualität, einen Hauch von Karl Kraus und Thomas Bernhard, dezentes Klackern der Carambolagekugeln, Zeitungsrascheln und Genuss. Zugleich erinnert es auf ungezwungene Weise daran, dass der Kulturraum des Deutschen größer als Deutschland ist.

5
  • 3
    I only know Kaffeehaus from my brief visits in Vienna, but I assume to find them in all of Austria, so far I have not encountered one in Germany.
    – Martin - マーチン
    Commented Jul 7, 2015 at 9:21
  • I like »Kaffeehaus«, but I think Martin is right: It is too much connected to Austria. In Vienna (where I live) and in Graz (where I was born and where I grew up) you have Kaffeehäuser everywhere, but when I visited German cities (Munich, Hagen, Münster) I found just some cafés, but not a single Kaffeehaus.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 8:26
  • @HubertSchölnast: Google: "Cafe Luitpold: Das Kaffeehaus in München - Restaurant", Hagen: klicktel.de/branchenbuch/hagen-westfalen/essen-und-trinken/… Münster, roestbar.de: Unsere vier Kaffeehäuser in Münster laden zum gemütlichen Verweilen ein, ausgezeichneter Kaffee und Kuchen oder köstliche Schokoladen inklusive.
    – user unknown
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 12:55
  • 2
    @userunknown: Dann habe ich die übersehen, ich war aber auch nur kurz dort. Aber ein Café und ein Kaffeehaus sind zwei verschiedene Kategorien von Lokalen. In einem Kaffeehaus gibt es eine Kaffeekarte mit typischerweise rund 20 Sorten Kaffee. z.B. Kaffeekarte des Café Landmann (trotz seines Namens ein richtiges Kaffeehaus) in Wien: landtmann.at/damals-und-heute/wiener-kaffeevielfalt.html Im Landmann kostet die Melange übrigens 4,90 Euro, in einem Café zahlt man dafür rund die Hälfte. Der Ober in einem Kaffeehaus trägt einen schwarzen Anzug und ein weißes Hemd und ist meist grantig.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:54
  • @HubertSchölnast: Kaffeehaus Landmann kommt mir bekannt vor - muss aber nicht sein, dass ich dort schon drin war. Das Traxlmayr in Linz kenne ich, mit Billardtischen (Carambolage) und Sofas, großer Zeitungsauswahl und Torten natürlich - gut, letzteres gibt es auch im Café meist.
    – user unknown
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 1:13
-3

Auslautverhärtung

(also known as terminal devoicing)

  • Native speakers or language learners may not be aware of this term and thus it may attract their attention.
  • For everybody else it may be recognisable as German due to containing typical German prefixes and suffixes, an umlaut and being a composite word.
  • It can be regarded as an inside joke as comments (the “Auslaut” of a question) sometimes escalate (“verhärten”) in chat (though usually not in the main room).
1
  • I like this idea. This name is connected to the language (not to a countries culture), looks typically deutsch and contains lots of cross-references to things that happen in a chat. I really like it.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 9:38
-4

This is an answer for users who do not want to change the name of the chat room to vote upon. Feel free to edit in all your reasons why you think the name should not be changed.

German Language

  • It makes immediately clear that this is the general chat room for our site because it has the same name.
  • After a name change user who don't come here regularly may have difficulties to find us amongst all the SE chat rooms.
  • A neutral term may be better suited to initiate professional talks about the language or site issues.
  • (please add your reason here)
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  • 1
    I would have thought downvoting the proposal like Matthias did be enough. But okay. (It's not looking like it's going to get enough votes, anyway … although there is still a discrepancy between the votes for Auerbachs Keller and those for the proposal)
    – Jan
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 12:10
  • @Jan Yes, that's how I see it, too. It's a bit puzzling - assuming that you upvoted the question, and ignoring your votes and mine, there are 3 other users who want to change the name, but 5 each who liked our two proposals. I read these 2-4 non-votes (on the question) as "we could live with a new name as well as with the old one, but we like these two proposals".
    – Matthias
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:55
  • 1
    @Jan: not all users may be aware of that that's why I feel we need another answer which should include people's reasons for keeping the old name. Changing the default chat room name affects all the stackexchange network so we need good reasons for doing that (especially after years of unchanged name).
    – Takkat
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 6:21
  • 1
    @Takkat I would love if you could elaborate (maybe in chat) as to why it affects the whole network?
    – Jan
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:23
  • The only case I am aware of where users from other sites get to see it is when they search for chatrooms, but then they see the subtitle telling them what it is.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:31
  • @Wrzlprmft it is those people who should find us easily, all others already know of us and likely don't care much about our name. We should not hide ourselves to the public by choosing a name only comprehensible to a native German.
    – Takkat
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:50
  • 1
    @Takkat: I do not think anybody searches for Stack Exchange sites via chatrooms, and even if they did: They will find us, as long German is part of the rooms description. If we opt for “auf gut Deutsch”, they will find us even better, as we are now appearing for the keywords German and Deutsch.
    – Wrzlprmft Mod
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 10:43

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