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Table 5.1 Sociable Topics
Topic Category Types of things talked about
Reminiscences Matters specific to the group as collective, e. g.,
Activities / experiences from collective past.
Agonisers Matters of general concern / interest drawn from
external world, e. g., Newsworthy events, matters of
local and national concern. 'Safe'topics such as the
weather.
Reportables Relaying of personal experiences, e. g., travels
home and abroad / activities participants have been
actively engaged in Pnew'things to tell which might
be of interest to the rest of the group.
Biographicals Matters relating to speakers, e. g., Domestic and
work issues / personal matters such as wants /
desires / plans etc. that speakers may divulge to the
group.
I believe this particular technique of topic categorisation has not only
allowed my to present the nature of the talk in each milieu, but also gain in
effect a'handle' (see Shuy 1981, cited in Straehle 1997) on the flow of events
that is characteristic of sociable interaction. 'Reminiscences' often involved
talking about'the old days' in one respect or another. In the first instance, this
orientation to topic development invoked shared memories and experiences of
things done or experienced in the past. Such talk was often prefaced with 'Hey,
do you remember when'/'WeiRt du noch damals' [Do you remember when], or,
if referring to particular persons / objects 'Hey, guess who I saw today'/ WeiRt
du wen ich heute gesehen habe? '[Do you know who I saw today? ] followed by
the invocation of a shared biographical 'figure' (Goffman 1974). Invocation of a
common past was also on occasion juxtaposed against the current day lifeworld
in general (e. g. 'It was different in our days" PZu unserer Zeit war clas noch
anders' [in our days that was different]). 'Agonisers' included a range of foci,
from 'safe' topics (Goffman 1967; Brown and Levinson 1987) such as the
weather or a current event on which collective sentiment could be assured (e. g.
the murder of a policemen), to more sensitive issues such as the state of public
services, or the impact of 'foreigners'; 'Agonisers' provided topical resources for
either the collective or individualised discussion of issues framed as potentially
threatening, troublesome, or problematic; 'Reportables' included topics where
participants brought in usually some direct personal experience from the outside
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