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drinking, and also at points where conversation was either a) 'drying up' (i. e.
conversational topic had been exhausted and fresh contributions were proving
difficult, and, although far less frequent, b) when conversational topic appeared
to be getting too'heated', and seemed to be risking running beyond the
thresholds of sociability (not a common phenomenon, but one which
nevertheless did occasionally occur).
Although, at least in terms of aspects of the immediate environment, both
English and German main phases had similar topical foci, there were some
differences in the way these were handled. For example, compared to German
hosts, English hosts responded to compliments or interest in the setting with a
more self-deprecating and abased manner. This took the form of for example
downgrading the food, or one's own performance in preparing it to the point of
having 'thrown something in a pot and stuck it in the oven for an hour'. Other
props frequently received similar treatment, with compliments on prop x being
met with almost formulaic responses of 'Oh, do you like it?, or'It's not bad ... it
does for what we want it for'. German praising of the similar items seemed a
much more formulaic affair. Indeed, I remember on my first occasion at German
sociable gatherings being the last person to utter the phrase 'Mmm ... lecker'
[Mmm.. Tasty]. This obligation to praise food (usually within a couple of seconds
of tasting the first mouthful) seemed also to exist in English ('Oh it's nice this'),
but in German, the "Iecker" utterance seemed a necessary pre-requisite for the
sociable second and following mouthfuls. Converse to English hosts, German
recipient of such compliments largely avoided , self-deprecating or abasing
comments on the whole in favour of a preference towards unmitigated
agreement, based largely on an evaluative stance taken towards the focus of
the compliment. Thus, das Essen ist aber ganz lecker' [the food is really tasty],
would be met with comments from the host such as 'Ja.. ne' [Yeah.. isn't it], or
factual details pertaining to the ingrediential source of the tastiness.
Subsequently, the food or other sociable props could provide the initiating
conversational resource for further topical development in a way similar to how
other more abstract conversational matters would later be handled.
In both settings, these greetings and noticings served an important due[
function. First, they served to proscriptively bracket sociability, and second, by
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